


More Than Us

by apocalypticdusk



Series: All For One [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Gen, Gen 1-6, Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, POV Original Character, Pokemon Journey, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-18
Updated: 2015-03-14
Packaged: 2017-12-23 21:13:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/931154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apocalypticdusk/pseuds/apocalypticdusk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felix, a freelance archaeologist, is hired to investigate an incident in Sootopolis City that occurred eight years before, an incident that League officials are strangely tight-lipped about. With next to no leads to begin with, he hopes to find some clues hidden somewhere within the Slateport Museum. After ending up in the port city in a rather roundabout fashion, he encounters a young Beautifly Breeder by the name of Devin, and Aaron, an even younger Pokémon Ranger from the Almia Region. After accidentally being recruited into Felix's expedition, the three begin to uncover the events of the Sootopolis Incident, why its true nature was buried from the start...and why it should have stayed that way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Diving Practice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Highlander](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Highlander/gifts).



> Alright, so I don't have a great track record when it comes to actually sticking with fics, but Felix and Aaron are based off of real people, and unfortunately they know about this story, so they'll keep pestering me 'til I finish. Cross your fingers. Constructive criticism is always welcome. c:
> 
> Bear with me, it'll get more exciting soon. I make no promises that the next few chapters will be much longer, though. Sorry 'bout that.
> 
> This is set nearly a decade after the events of Emerald. Any changes to the region, namely the towns and cities, are a result of that.

The city of Sootopolis was bustling, for once; today was the first day of the biannual Whiterock Festival, and there were people on nearly every inch of land that was above the water. Booths featuring games, souvenirs, and food were littered throughout the crowds, all decked out in blue and silver streamers and balloons. Some of the buildings sported similar decorations, and the brand new suspension bridge stretched out over the deep pool of water that split the city in two had ribbons twined around every steel cable. This look would last for today and the four days following. Since the festival was only held once every two years, people figured they should make the most of it by having the festivities last a full five days. 

Felix was only vaguely aware of the reason for the festival. It had something to do with the rain filling up the hollow volcano in order to create what was now a city with two unorthodox entry points. He found he rather liked the idea of the city only being accessible with people who had access to a Pokémon that knew Dive or Fly, and had the gym badges to actually control them, simply because it wasn't something often seen. 

He wasn't exactly here for the festival, though, only the cover it offered. There were plenty of kids and teenagers alike playing in the water to cool off, so no one paid the young man any mind. And if anyone thought it odd that he was carrying around a bulky, waterproof flashlight, they kept their thoughts to themselves. 

If anything, aquatic Pokémon were equally as common as humans, so the Feraligatr next to him was only ever given approving or intimidated second glances. That was good; Chomper was Felix's only Water-type, so if he'd attracted too much attention, they would have to put examining this site on hold.

As it was, though, it seemed like they might have to do that anyway. 

Chomper had a fascination with the movie Jaws, and regularly entertained himself by re-enacting scenes from the film, with himself in the role of the shark. That was a detail Felix had overlooked when he'd chosen this day to check out this underwater site, and one he didn't realize until he was getting ready to dive after fiddling with his flashlight, and he realized Chomper was no longer in the water beside him.

"Oh, great," he muttered, looking around to see if he could catch a glimpse of the teal-coloured Pokémon, or perhaps a person getting their leg ripped off.

The archaeologist was only seventy percent sure Chomper wouldn't do anything like that.

A quick glance around showed that he was still in the early stages, though; there was still time to stop him before he caused a scene. That thought in mind, Felix flicked the flashlight on, took a breath, and submerged himself underwater. It was sort of eerie, suddenly not being able to see anyone clearly when he looked around. The water was tainted with seawater, and the people kicking up dirt were only making it murkier. He couldn't see very far around him. He considered bringing out his Cradily, Jazz, to help him search, but that quickly proved to be unnecessary, because Felix had discovered the Feraligatr's intended victim.

"Jesus Christ!" he yelled (though it just came out as a bunch of bubbles), automatically kicking out behind him as he both saw and felt a massive set of jaws closing around his torso. He stopped after the first kick connected and he realized just what was happening, and quickly used the beast's maw to push off propel himself the few feet upwards above the surface again, panting slightly from lack of air and the sudden shock, caught between annoyance and laughter. Beside him, a pair of eyes also showed above the water, just staring at him, but Felix could practically hear the bloody creature laughing at him.

"You're a dick," Felix told Chomper, which only seemed to amuse the Feraligatr more. "C'mon, buttface, we've got work to do."

\-- * --

As Felix's head broke through the surface of the water, he did his best to quiet his gasps as he refilled his lungs with air. Not that he would have been heard or heeded above the din, but he couldn't be too careful. This was probably going to be his only chance to have a look at the sunken landmass without it looking too suspicious.

"This is impossible," he grumbled to the Feraligatr once he'd caught his breath. "I can't get a good look at anything before I run out of air." The only reason he got to see anything at all was because Chomper ferried him there and back (whenever he wasn't off stalking the festival goers). 

The Water-type just stared at him, waiting, and the brunette sighed. "Yeah, yeah, s'all my fault. Shut up. Let's try the north side again."

This went on for some time—about four hours, Felix would claim, but in reality barely half that time had elapsed before he felt too light-headed to keep diving, and had Chomper tow him to shore. The archaeologist returned the Feraligatr to his Pokéball and dragged himself up on the bank, exhausted and no closer to figuring out what had happened here eight years ago, and why it was officially such a touchy topic.

\-- * --

It had been two days since the failed Sootopolis expedition. The odd, underwater landmass that was supposedly linked to the events eight years prior had looked for all the world like every other rock around it. The only thing that made it sound out was a strange gouge on its west face about three feet below the flat surface of the rock, but even that simply looked like erosion. Felix had then tried poking around the northern end of the city, but had been shooed away. "For your own safety," they'd said. There had once been an opening there, the entrance to a place called the Cave of Origins, but it had collapsed about six years beforehand. Now, he was poring over all the recent and not-so-recent history books he could find in the local library. The cave had to be about as old as Sootopolis, judging by the name; it wouldn't just suddenly cave in without a cause, and there had been no major earthquakes documented in that timeframe. There had to be a reason. He just wondered if it was linked to The Incident, as he'd started referring to it in his head.

Hey, he had next to nothing to go on. How original could he be?

Felix let out a heavy sigh and nearly slammed shut the tome he'd been reading, but stopped himself at the last moment. The book was at least sixty years old, so any man-handling could cause it to fall apart, or perhaps just turn to dust. The librarian would wring his neck, and probably literally toss him out. Not that the last part would matter; this was the last even remotely relevant book he'd been able to find in the Sootopolis Library, and so far the only new piece of information he'd gleaned was weird weather patterns. Ordinarily, he might not have paid it any mind, but it kept popping up—one minute there would be a massive downpour, and the next it would shift to a searing heat and then back again not long later. These were passed off as anomalies, though. Freak weather. It never lasted more than a few hours, so far as he could tell. Plus, these weather anomalies were only ever noted in people's journal entries, never in anything official. Either people were making shit up to make things seem more interesting, or there was something more going on. It was…odd.

But that was it, and it might not even be connected to anything. Felix couldn't shake the feeling that it was, somehow, but he needed hard evidence to back it up, more for his own peace of mind than anything. Gut feelings were all well and good, and could lead to great discoveries, but irrefutable proof was what he thrived on. It enabled him to be right without any uncertainty. 

Gingerly, the archaeologist closed the book and brought it back to the librarian, who took it and returned it to the back room without a word. Felix was gone by the time she returned, already heading back to his hotel to pack up his few belongings and tools. Next stop: Slateport City, to check out the museum and adjoining library there. With any luck, he'd find some sort of lead there, or at least another clue.


	2. Off the Road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which something actually happens. (This and chapter four make up for all the talking in chapter three. Whoops.)
> 
> Don't get used to the fast updates, I had three and a half chapters written up before posting the first one, and I physically write everything before typing it. So enjoy it while it lasts.

Although she couldn't yet see the city, Devin could smell it. Cities simply had different smells to them than towns did, and when one lived around Verdanturf, a town known for its clean air, you tended to notice these kinds of things. Some Verdanturf citizens had a difficult time leaving the town for that very reason, but Devin enjoyed the change from the scent of flowers. She had left New Mauville about five days ago and had mostly been camping along the path underneath Cycling Road, only stopping to stay in an inn once when a small storm passed through. Otherwise, the weather had been good enough to sleep outside. 

The Butterfree flying next to the redhead seemed to pick up on his Trainer's sudden boost in mood, and began to happily flit around rather than just flapping along by her side. Dev watched him as he did so, a smile forming on her face. She was glad they had decided to start breeding Butterfree some years ago—

"Oi! Don't just walk past, don'tcha know the rules?!"

Just like that, the smile was gone, and the Breeder rolled her eyes. Bloody Trainers. Always itching for a battle. The "rules" were more of an honour code than anything, once Devin didn't particularly care for. "I didn't even look at you," the muttered, but there was no getting out of it now.

The other Trainer grinned. "You're so going to regret challenging me. Go, Elix!"

"I didn't—" Dev cut herself off with a groan. Some Trainers were just…morons. The boy, however, thought her groan had been one of defeat, as it had coincided with his Mightyena appearing in a white flash of light. His grin became cockier.

Which didn't make sense, because she had a Bug-type flying right beside her. Whatever. She had another Pokémon that needed to blow off some steam.

"Let's make this quick, Avalynn!"

The Trainer only ended up having two relatively strong Pokémon—the Mightyena and a Steelix—which Devin easily type-trumped, first with a Beautifly and later her Charmeleon. She took her winnings and walked off without a backwards glance, ignoring the Trainer's grumblings. People assumed Breeders were weak because they didn't train every second of the day, but in reality they just tended to be a little smarter about their choice of Pokémon types. True, Dev's team was made up of Pokémon that were chosen for practicality rather than type, but that didn't mean they were weak. You had to train Wurmple and Caterpie to become Beautifly and Butterfree, after all.  
She'd still lost more than once on the road here.

Luckily, no one else bothered her the rest of the way, and in no time Dev was walking underneath the colourful archway that declared the port's name. 

As Dev looked around, taking in the sights and sounds of Slateport City, a grin split across her face. Everywhere she looked, there were people, and they only seemed to increase in volume the further into the city they got. She had visited Slateport before, and it was only ever this busy on weekends, when everyone came down to the market to buy and sell their wares. After a few moments, she asked aloud, "What d'you think, Abbott? Safe enough to let Avalynn out here?"

"Freeee," the Butterfree replied, and Devin laughed. 

"Yeah, no. Don't think so. Actually, I'd rather you not get lost. Or, y'know, poison anyone. Come back, Ab."  
Abbott gave her a gloomy look as he vanished in a red flash. Dev paid him no mind and clipped the ball back onto her belt, then immersed herself in the crowd gathered in the marketplace. There were colourful triangular streamers pinned up everywhere, though this was normal; no one wanted the market looking gloomy. Happy people spent more money; this was a concept Devin was familiar with. However, she didn't have much extra money to spend so she was content to simply roam around and browse for a couple of different reasons. Still, she bought some homemade treats specifically for Pokémon, and when she started to grow tired of the hustle and bustle, she purchased a multicoloured popsicle for herself and started to idly make her way to the east of the city, where it would be quieter.   
Dev had just finished off the treat and thrown away the stick when she was jostled for the dozenth time that day, and unsurprisingly, there wasn't a word of apology from the woman who had bumped her. Dev silently stuck her tongue out at her retreating back, but didn’t make a scene. 

That is, until she had nearly worked her way to the outskirts of the marketplace and reached for Avalynn's ball, only to discover it was missing.

Suddenly panicked, Devin's hand flew around her waist. One, two, three, four…and that was it. She was about half a second from flying right off the handle when something suddenly occurred to her, something that made her stop. Before she even had time to really think any further on it, a shriek suddenly rose up from the thinning crowd somewhere to the south. The Breeder immediately took off in that direction, fighting to keep a smile off her face.

As it turned out, Dev lost that battle as she came upon the scene that had started to draw a small crowd of its own. She watched, more amused than anything, as a Beautifly with familiar markings was furiously beating its wings, whipping up a powerful Gust that had forced a woman with long dirty blond hair to the ground. She was covering her face with her arms to protect herself from the dirt being stirred up. "Someone get this thing away from me!" she screamed, then gagged on dust that found its way into her open mouth. It was the little victories that Dev liked most.

However, no one moved; Dev imagined they were confused as to why a Pokémon would actively harm its own Trainer. 

A little ways away, gently rocking back and forth in a patch of grass, sat an open Pokéball. Dev made a beeline for it and scooped the little sphere up, then tossed the ball as she called, "Avalynn, return."

The wind died as the sullen Beautifly vanished. Dev turned her gaze towards the woman on the ground and said coldly, "Maybe you'll think twice about stealing someone's Pokémon next time."

The woman scrambled to her feet and shot the redhead a dirty look before suddenly taking off, roughly shoving people aside in her haste, only to be tripped not ten feet into her getaway. She went sprawling to the ground for a second time, and a dark-haired teenager moved in front of her, presumably the one who had put his foot out in the first place. 

As Dev moved towards them, so too did a pair of police officers who had apparently been alerted sometime during the scene. One of the officers snapped a pair of handcuffs around the would-be thief's wrists and hauled her to her feet and away, while the other remained behind to take statements from Devin and some other members of the crowd, including the young man who'd been responsible for her capture. 

Luckily, the questioning didn't take more than a half hour, and Dev was free to go once she thanked the officer and assured her she wouldn't be warning her friends away from Slateport or anything like that. Shit happened anywhere you went. She had noticed, though, that the young man who'd been questioned almost fifteen minutes before was still lingering a little ways away, and cast him a puzzled look as he made his way towards her. He almost seemed a touch nervous about it, but that went away as he asked, "Is your Beautifly okay?"

Dev raised a brow. "I'm fine, thanks for asking," she replied, but then added, "She's just traumatized, sir. I'm not sure how I'll ever be able to stop her from uncontrollably rampaging in the future."

The dark-haired teen stared at her, his eyes widening slightly, and Dev burst out laughing. "I'm kidding! God, she was already aggressive enough, this isn't gonna make it any worse, I promise." Her grin only widened at seeing his face redden, and realize he was even younger than she initially thought—probably even younger than she was. "Sorry, sorry. C'mon, I'll buy you a late lunch or something, to thank you for that."

"No, no, I couldn't accept," he spluttered immediately, waving his hands in front of him. "You don't need to do anything like that."

She gave him a flat look. "It's not like I'm buying you a lobster dinner or anything. Let's go find some cheap burgers." Ignoring his stammering, Dev grabbed the teen's wrist and dragged him off towards the beach, where she could see some food stands set up. "I'm Devin, by the way. Call me Dev."

"Ah, Aaron. Nice to meet you, Dev. I think."


	3. Dockumentary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I'm sorry this is...pretty much...all talking. But there's a near-death experience in the next chapter. Stuff actually happens. Chapters actually start getting a little longer. So look forward to that!
> 
> Also it's Aaron's birthday on August 21st! So there'll be two chapters up tomorrow instead of just one. Look forward to it~

In the end, Aaron opted for a hot dog instead, and insisted on paying for cheese fries that they shared. As the two of them ate while sitting on the edge of a dock, dangling their feet in the cool water, they talked.

"So what brings you to Slateport, Dev?" he asked. She raised a brow in silent question, and Aaron stared blankly at her for a moment, baffled by her confusion, when it hit him. "Oh! Your Beautifly. There aren't any of those around here, so I figured you probably travel."

Dev looked impressed. "Good guess. I'm from Verdanturf. I breed Beautifly and Butterfree for contests."

It was Aaron's turn to be impressed. "Really? Wow. Must be a lot of work." He couldn't imagine the time and care she must put into bringing all the Pokémon up to standard; it was hard enough just raising a team of six. "How many do you train at once?"

Dev was silent for a moment. "Right before I left, we had one Beautifly and two Butterfree ready for contests, and I was raising two more of each. One of the Silcoon was nearly ready to evolve, too. And I guess it's a lot of work, but it's all I've ever really known. I enjoy it." She shrugged. "I travel sometimes with my dad, too—he researches Bug Pokémon—but that's about it. What about you?"

"Veintown," Aaron answered automatically, but didn't elaborate until he noticed Dev's confused look. Right—he was weird here. "Ah, Almia. Way to the east. I'm a Pokémon Ranger."

Dev frowned. "A Ranger…I heard of them somewhere, once…you don't capture Pokémon and battle with them, right?"

"Only in Almia, and a few other regions with Rangers," he explained. "The Ranger Union's got headquarters in Fiore, Almia, and Oblivia, but they're trying to branch out into other regions a little. Hoenn's the first, like a test run. Normally, we use Stylers to befriend Pokémon and have them help us do things like put out fires and clear debris, but here we've had to do things differently. I've basically become a sort of…partial Trainer." Aaron rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't like it at first, using the Pokémon they gave me to fight other Pokémon. Didn't feel right. But I started to realize he actually enjoyed battling. I think most Pokémon in these regions are the same, because it's all they've ever really known. And it's not so bad, really, as long as you treat them right."

He paused to pop a couple of fries in his mouth, and Dev took the opportunity to ask, "Why is the Union interested in other regions, though, the ones that battle?"

Aaron took a moment to answer. He had to think about it for a moment, but it was a topic he thought about often. "I never really asked," he admitted, "but I think it's because they want to help the Pokémon in these regions, too. Not everyone cares about them; some go so far as to abandon them in a ditch."

"Isn't that basically the same as releasing them?"

"Not when they've been beaten within an inch of their lives."

Dev fell silent, her eyes going wide. Aaron could sense her sudden unease; she'd never really thought about it much before. That was understandable. You couldn't help but automatically assume everyone was kind to these incredible creatures, or at the very least tolerated them. In the silence, he unclipped a particular Pokéball from his belt and rolled it between his hands. 

"Is that why you decided to become a Ranger?" she finally asked after a time.

Aaron smiled slightly. "No, Veintown's right across the river from the Ranger Academy, and there was a Ranger Base in my town. I grew up watching Rangers help people and Pokémon, saw the bonds they shared with them. I wanted that." He stared down at the little sphere in his hands. "Being here, capturing Pokémon in balls instead of with a Styler…it's not quite how I imagined, what I expected. But this is important work, too. Every Pokémon on my team is a rescue Pokémon; most are ones I've found myself."

He tapped the ball in his hand, prompting a light to shoot out and materialize on the dock next to him. Aaron fondly patted the Poochyena's head, scratching behind his ears. As the dog-like Pokémon tilted his head upwards, enjoying the attention, Aaron glanced towards Dev and saw her staring at the Poochyena. He knew what she was seeing: a thin scar along his neck, where a collar might have been. It was mostly hidden by surrounding dark fur, but Aaron knew it encircled his neck. 

"Barbed wire collar and leash. Couldn't even try to bite through it," he said by way of explanation. He saw Dev put down the last of her hamburger. Yeah. It had been even worse finding him. Hearing the piteous whines from a ditch in a rainstorm. Investigating to find the Poochyena with barbs cutting into his neck, fur matted from all the blood and rain, his mouth cut up from trying to chew through the wire. He was Aaron's first find, first rescue, and first personal addition to his then-team of just the Turtwig that had been given to him when he first came to Hoenn. 

It hadn't gotten any easier finding Pokémon in similar conditions.

Aaron offered Devin a small, not-altogether-real smile. "It was bad, yeah, but it was a few years ago now. He's gotten a lot better since then. That's sort of how I learned to look at it. 'At least they're not as bad off now as they were before.'"

"That's one way of looking at it," Dev said softly, offering her hand for the Poochyena to sniff. She was almost a foot away when the little Pokémon's demeanour abruptly changed, and he suddenly growled and snapped at her hand. Dev snatched it away at the last second, and Aaron gasped. 

"Skylord, no! Bad! What was that for?!" He glared at Sky until he looked sufficiently chastened before turning back to Devin, looking apologetic. "I'm really sorry about that, oh man. He's always been pretty good. You okay?" he asked, concerned. What was that about?

Dev, however, was staring at her hand. "Hey, he wasn't ever poisoned by any chance, was he?" she asked. Aaron gave her a puzzled look.

"I dunno. I suppose he could have been when he was still with his last Trainer…" He trailed off as Dev showed him her hand, but that really didn't clear anything up. It must have shown on his face, because she laughed slightly.  
"I work with Butterfree and travel with one, remember? I'm so used to the poison dust they have on their wings that I don't notice it anymore, but I guess he can smell it on me or something," she explained. 

"Ohh." The Ranger nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Still, sorry." He turned back to Skylord and gently cupped took the Poochyena's face in his hands. "Right? She's okay, she's a friend. No biting unless she tries to stab me in the back." He glanced over his shoulder in time to see Dev whip her hand away and hold it behind her back as she looked away from him, whistling innocently. He laughed at that. 

"No harm done," she said with a smile, drawing her feet out of the water and flailing them around to help them dry off. "So, is there a Ranger Base in Slateport?"

"No, the only one right now is in Fortree City. Seemed appropriate, since everyone there lives in trees." Aaron grinned. "I like it. But I'm out on patrol right now, so I'm camping around. Kinda sucks in the rain, but it's cool."  
"Hey, same here," Dev said, lightly punching him on the shoulder. "Whatcha doin' in the city if you're on patrol, though? Slacking?"

Aaron made a face. "No. It’s Saturday. I get Friday and Saturday off. Though I don't find much to do other days." He realized how that sounded, and quickly tried backtracking, quickly getting flustered. "N-Not that that's a bad thing! It's great! It's just…you know…"

"Boring?" Dev supplied, and he nodded sheepishly. It was hard to really explain, but she seemed to understand anyway.

"It's not like I want to come across a Pokémon that needs help. It's just that in Almia, there are always quests to do, people that need a specific Pokémon's help. Here, you capture Pokémon instead of befriending and releasing them. If you don't have the Pokémon you need, there aren't any Rangers to ask, so you just do without. There's no one to ask for help."

Dev seemed to think about this for a short time. "Do you look down on people like me?" she asked. "I basically breed Pokémon for money. I mean, we don't just blindly sell out Pokémon to anyone with a wallet; we do basic background checks, but that doesn't guarantee they're going to a good home. We have to trust our customers to treat them right for as long as they live, not just as long as they're useful to them."

Aaron fell quiet. That…hadn't even occurred to him. She was right; breeding and selling Pokémon for profit…it should have sounded heinous. But it wasn't, really. If someone really wanted to abuse a Pokémon, they wouldn't pay for a strong one that could fight back, like he'd seen Devin's Beautifly do earlier. They could go into the wild and just catch one there. No, the likelihood of people treating Devin's Pokémon well was actually fairly high, considering. He smiled at her. "You don't have much faith in people, do you?"

The redhead lifted a shoulder. "Depends on who I'm talking to. With you, when you're not talking about your work, the whole world could be made of sunshine and cotton candy."

"Sugar rots your teeth," he pointed out.

"Not if you take care of them," she shot back.

The smile widened into a grin. "And there's our metaphor for the human condition: cotton candy."


	4. Landing Gear

Felix loved his Drifblim, Oz, to death. He had found him as a Drifloon just lying on the side of the path, looking rather depressed. He suspected he'd lost his fleet and was probably hungry, so, feeling badly for him, he fed the little ghost balloon some of Chomper's treats (much to the gluttonous Feraligatr's displeasure). The little Drifloon was so pleased that he just started following Felix around, and wouldn't leave him the hell alone. Felix finally just caught him, figuring it was easier than having the silly thing follow him around going "FOOON" all hours of the day (which he did). As a result, he simply became a part of his team, and Felix never ended up regretting it.

There were, however, some days when he came close.

Oz liked to chase things. Clouds, lights, shiny stuff—just, things. That, coupled with the fact that he was still at the mercy of the wind most of the time if it was stronger than about fifteen kilometres an hour, meant that it took ages to get to any fixed destination. That was usually okay. It was actually the reason Felix had taken up one of his hobbies: writing. He was a pretty patient person, but staring down at an endless expanse of land or sea got pretty boring after a little while. He mostly only wrote during flights, and just did it for something to do, but quickly found he liked it. He wrote about anything from memories and past experiences to creating whole new worlds, and characters and situations to go with those worlds. Funny enough, he enjoyed the creating more than the storytelling. There was just something about having complete control about this entirely fictional place that he could alter at whim. Over the years, he'd filled at least a dozen notebooks with his writings, all except the current ones safely stashed in a safety deposit box in the Kanto Region. 

It was this hobby that he was absorbed in when he glanced up out of habit to see whereabouts they were, only to see something in the near-distance that caught his eye: a small town, floating entirely on massive structures of logs tethered together by rope bridges. In the center of it all was the familiar red roof of a Pokémon Center. And they were floating away from it—the wrong damn way. They should have been passing directly over it, not way south of it, as he saw when he checked the tiny compass in his watch.

"What the—Oz!" Felix exclaimed, more out of exasperation than anger. This wasn't new. "You know you can fly in a straight line, right?"

"Bliiiim," the Drifblim rumbled, the sound vibrating all through his hollow body. He didn't sound remorseful in the slightest. In fact, he almost sounded…nervous. Felix had been around Oz long enough to be able to read his monotonous tone fairly well, and he only sounded like this around storms.

Except the skies were almost completely clear around them, save the errant white cloud here and there. Frowning slightly, the archaeologist patted the purple blimp Pokémon. "Hey buddy, what's up?" he asked softly. Oz simply repeated the noise, prompting Felix to stow his notebook away in his bag before shimmying carefully to the Pokémon's side and peering over. The ocean seemed calm enough, so what—

A jet of water suddenly shot up from the ocean's surface, not four feet from Felix's face. The young man scrambled backwards as Oz's cry increased in volume. Another water spout shot upwards, this one farther to their right. Felix waited a few moments for his heart to stop pounding, then cautiously looked over Oz's side again. As usual, all he could see was blue, but now there were two different shades below them: that of the ocean, and a much brighter blue that appeared to be a ridged mound rising up out of the water. There seemed to be a very small hole towards the front of it, but he imagined it was larger up close.

They had drifted over a pod of Wailord.

Ordinarily, Felix might have enjoyed watching them, but when their Water Spouts were a direct threat to his personal safety, he was inclined to think otherwise. The fact that the wind was picking up didn't help matters in the slightest, especially since it was pushing them away not only from Slateport and Pacifidlog, but the entire region. 

"Okay, Oz, you gotta fight it," Felix said encouragingly to the Drifblim, who had started to hum. That was a bad sign. The more nervous he got, the louder he'd hum, and the higher he'd float.

Felix waited a few more minutes and three more spouts to see if the wind would change, knowing how fickle it could be, but in that time they only drifted farther away from Pacifidlog. The Wailord were still below them as well. It was only when another spout just narrowly missed them that Felix told Oz to start letting out gas to take them down; Chomper could swim them back to the floating town, and they'd go from there.

It took some coaxing, but soon they were descending, drawing closer and closer to the Wailord and impressing upon the archaeologist just how fucking massive the whale Pokémon were. They were, in all honesty, pretty impressive. 

That was probably the last kind thought he had towards Wailord for a long time.

Oz was not nearly agile enough to dodge the Water Spout that shot up directly underneath them, and the Drifblim was immediately sent spinning through the air, his cries reverberating throughout his body. Felix was thrown from his back within seconds, and it took him a long moment to fully register what had happened—a moment that could have cost him his life, had it lasted any longer.

Felix finally regained his senses enough to shout, "Oz, return! Chom—" before hitting the icy water and losing consciousness.

\-- * --

"—th-to-mouth?"

"Be my guest."

"It's not like it's an actual kiss, Dev!"

"Then what's the problem?"

"I don't know how to do CPR on people!"

"Just Pokémon? Jeez, how d'you do it on a Muk?"

"Girls only, please," Felix finally mumbled before coughing violently for a few moments, forcing the last of the water from his lungs. "Don't swing the other way, sorry."

"Well, that's one thing we already have in common, but it means you're shit outta luck," a decidedly female voice said from his left. Felix tried opening his eyes but immediately had to squint thanks to the sun high overhead. He could taste nothing but salt in his mouth, and his throat was raw. He didn't even want to think about his roiling stomach or foggy head, or how much seawater he'd probably swallowed. He considered moving, but discarded the idea for the time being.

"We got some water for you, but you have to sit up to drink it," the girl said, causing Felix to look over at her. Her fiery red hair was very distracting, and actually hurt to look at.

"You can drink it lying down," another voice sighed, this one male. He didn't particularly want to be fed or watered like a child, though, so Felix forced himself up onto his elbows, even if it made his head spin. He hoped he wouldn't hurl. Taking the water from the dark-haired male, he made himself take small sips as he took in his surroundings. Mostly ocean, part of a pier (that they were likely situated on at the moment), a couple of boats out at sea, and right in front of him an unfamiliar Poochyena and a lumbering teal-coloured Pokémon right next to it.

Felix smiled a little. "Good to see you, bud," he greeted Chomper, who bobbed his head slightly in response. 

"We figure he kept you from drowning," the male to his right said. "He came swimming through the currents, towing you along, and ended up right by the dock. He's alright, by the way."

Huh. So that was how he'd ended up here. Which begged the question: where was here? It didn't feel like a floating platform, and come to think of it, Pacifidlog didn't even have piers. That sort of went against the whole floating town motif. "So, uh, where am I, then?"

"Slateport," the redhead answered. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Uh, Felix," he answered, then laughed slightly at the absurdity of it all. He'd landed in Slateport far more quickly than if he'd been riding on Oz. Would've been less hazardous, though. 

However, the two young'uns had no way of knowing that; they just seemed to have a half-drowned madman on their hands. The archaeologist grinned at them and explained, "I was heading for Slateport and actually got blown off-course. Not my preferred method of transportation, but hey. Who're you two, by the way?"

"I'm Aaron," the boy said, then gestured to the redhead. "Her name's Devin. Well, Dev. The Poochyena's Skylord."

Felix raised a brow. "Weird name."

Aaron flushed slightly, and Dev immediately smacked Felix on the shoulder, eliciting a startled, "Hey! Injured, here!"

"You're just wet, don't be such a baby. And be nice to the kid."

"I'm not a kid!"

"You're both children," Felix said loudly. "If you were adults, I'd be in a nice, dry, five-star hotel room by now."

"What a snob," Dev said behind her hand to Aaron, but Felix could see her smile. Still, apparently they got the hint, and helped him to his feet. The fogginess in his head had mostly cleared by this point, and he felt about as well as he could expect, all things considered. He could stand and walk just fine, which was a plus. They were about to head off when Felix suddenly stopped and looked around. "Hang on—have you seen my bag?"

Dev and Aaron exchanged a look and shook their heads, and it was only then that Chomper opened his large maw to reveal a navy blue backpack with dozens of unnecessary straps and pockets, almost entirely dry. He must have snapped it out of the air before they even hit the water. He'd always been quick.

Felix grinned and slung an arm around the Feraligatr's neck. "You're the best, Chomper. I owe you…what is it, three now?"

"I think you owe him six, at least," Dev said dryly. "Saved your life and your stuff? Shit."

"Anyway, let's find somewhere I can shower and eat something."

"That reminds me—you owe me a thing of cheese fries. We knocked it into the water when we were fishing you out."


	5. Helping Hands

The trio had gone hunting for a shower stand on the beach after seeing the prices of some of the nearby hotels, so one bout of shameless stripping and a shower and change of clothes later, Felix was clean and seemed to be feeling much better. They had settled down at a café that overlooked the ocean, and were talking between bites. (Well, Felix was. The other two had just settled for drinks.) Dev and Aaron learned about Oz and his nature, about the Wailord pod, and the last thing Felix remembered before hitting the water. They determined Chomper had probably tried towing Felix back to Pacifidlog, but had gotten caught in the strong currents running between Pacifidlog and Slateport, and couldn't swim against them with so much dead weight dragging him down. In return, he learned that Aaron was a somewhat out-of-place Pokémon Ranger, and immediately took a liking to Skylord. 

So what do you do, Felix?" Aaron asked as the other male was scratching Sky behind the ears.

"I'm an archaeologist," he explained, and looked pleased at the impressed reaction he got from Aaron and Devin. "Well, I should say freelance. I'm actually getting paid to sit here and eat right now, basically. It's pretty awesome."

"Is there a lot of work for a freelancer in that field, though?" Dev asked with a raised brow. Felix grinned sheepishly.

"Nah. But I'd rather be out and about and living off of canned beans than stuck in some office for the rest of my life. Canned beans are gross, though; I go for tuna."

Dev could kind of relate. She didn't get around much, but she was almost always outside and moving around.

"What about you, Dev?" the archaeologist asked.

The redhead shrugged. "I'm a Breeder. Beautifly and Butterfree, specifically, for contests. Not terribly exciting."  
"Now that I think about it, what're you doing out here, if you live in Verdanturf?" Aaron asked suddenly. Felix also looked curious, so Dev turned slightly and tossed two of her Pokéballs off the side of the balcony and over the water. Two bright flashes later, and a Butterfree and Beautifly were flying a little ways away. 

"Meet Avalynn and Abbott. Av's the reason I'm out here." As she spoke, Avalynn made as if you take off, but a brief cry from Abbott stopped her. Dev grinned at the sullen look on the Beautifly's face and turned back to the others.

"A couple months ago, some asshole came onto our property and thought it would be funny to throw stones at some of the Pokémon. Unlucky for him, Beautifly are really territorial if they don't trust you and are actually pretty aggressive, so they chased him off before he could do much. He hit Avalynn when she was still just a Silcoon, though, and she remembered his face, I think. When she evolved, she was really aggressive towards me and my dad, and she kept trying to break out. We have a nonlethal perimeter set up to stop the Pokémon we breed from roaming too far. The only way to really keep her in check without hurting her was the poison dust Butterfree have on their wings. It sort of…slows them down, confuses them a little. That's why I have Abbott, too. His dust is really potent, and he keeps her in check. We're hoping travelling around, away from Verdanturf, will give her time to cool off, vent her anger." She frowned slightly. "Great plan, huh? Two weeks on the road and she's already been kidnapped once."

"What?!" Felix stared at her in shock, making for a rather comedic picture with his sandwich already halfway to his mouth. Dev waved her hand, but Aaron explained, "Some woman pickpocketed Dev earlier today, but Avalynn wasn't having any of it. S'how we met."

"Ooookay." The archaeologist pondered Dev's story as he chewed. "So why not just let her go after the guy that hit her? He deserves it."

"We would if we knew who he was," Dev replied. "My dad saw the last few minutes of the whole thing, but he didn't recognize the asshole. He doesn't think he was from Verdanturf. It's not exactly a large town, and we've lived there for ages."

Felix couldn't think of any other suggestions, so he fell silent as he finished his late lunch. The three didn't talk for a while, just sat in a comfortable silence and watching Avalynn and Abbott playing by beating up seawater with their wings and trying to splash each other. When Av wasn't on a murderous rampage, she was fine. She didn't need too much of a reason to get riled up, but moments like this were as nice as they were uncommon.

"So, Felix, what about your job brought you here? Where were you before?" Aaron asked, breaking the silence.  
Felix thought about that for a moment. Dev imagined he was debating how much to tell them, and wondered what sort of job a freelance archaeologist would have to be so quiet about. Finally, he shrugged and said, "I was in Sootopolis, and I didn't really find what I was looking for. The library was practically useless, so I figured I'd check out the museum here. I hear there's a library on one of the upper floors now, too, so I'll be checking that out."

"Can I asked what it is you're looking for, or is that classified information?" Dev wondered aloud. "I dunno, maybe I could help."

"Me too," Aaron chimed in with a smile. "I still have the rest of today off, and it sounds interesting."

Felix just stared at the two of them for a moment, eliciting confused looks before he finally laughed a little. "Wow. Uh. Sorry. Wasn't really expecting that. Research can be super boring, though," he warned. "I spent almost three days in the Sootopolis Library and found almost nothing. It should have been the best place to dig up info, too. But I'd appreciate the help, to be honest. It'd be a bit less tedious with some other people."

"Friends," Aaron corrected. Felix and Dev stared at him.

"Are we friends already?" the other male asked slowly. Dev snorted.

"Hey, we pulled your unconscious ass out of the ocean. We must be friends."

"Oh, well, in that case, friends totally buy each other's meals, right?" Felix grinned, earning a smack on the arm from the redhead. "Hey! Is this gonna be a regular thing with you?"

"You still owe me cheese fries!"

"Fries that I paid for," Aaron murmured with a slight smile, and Dev was seriously considering dumping her water on him. However, it was Felix's smug, amused look that earned him a faceful of her drink.

"Are you kidding me?!" he spluttered, pretending to be hurt by their laughter. "I just dried off!"

\-- * --

The trio remained outside for a short while longer, giving Felix the chance to dry off (again) before heading over to the Slateport Museum, led by Aaron.

"I saw it on a directory somewhere a few days ago," he'd explained with a shrug.

They paid the small fee to get through the doors and immediately headed up the two flights of stairs to the library on the third floor. They settled down in a quiet, secluded corner before they had Felix explain.

"Eight years ago, something big happened in Sootopolis City," he began. "Problem is, I have no idea what it was. That's what I've been hired to find out."

"Good start," Dev interrupted, but grinned and quieted again at Felix's impatient look.

He continued, "That makes it more suspicious than anything: the fact that I can't find a record of it anywhere. When I tried asking the locals, most told me they hadn't been living in the city that long. The few I spoke to that had been around said they didn't remember that nothing of significance had happened. One did recall that that was around the time a young woman had come through and defeated their Gym Leader at the time, something that was notable because she defeated Champion Steven about a month later and became the new Champion. This guy I was talking to was kind of a Champion fanatic; he knew a lot about all of Hoenn's Champions up until the current one. It wasn't a big thing because the girl, Emerald, wasn't actually Champion yet, but he still bragged about meeting her before she was really famous."

Felix sighed. "But that was about it. I couldn't talk to very many people about it, otherwise they'd start getting suspicious, and then I'd have the League on my ass. If I knew why they wanted this kept quiet, then that would be a start, but…" He shrugged.

Dev thought about that. What could have happened that the League itself wanted covered up so badly? And there must have been witnesses—why would no one even talk about it? "Well, that is something," she said finally. "Anything else?"

Felix thought for a moment. "Weather patterns," he said finally. "In personal journals, nothing official, some people mentioned a weird weather pattern one day that lasted for a couple of hours. One minute, the sun would be scorching hot, and the next, the sky would darken and rain poured down in buckets, then back again. Something similar was even mentioned in a journal written ninety-three years ago."

"This hasn't just happened once," Aaron said softly. "I wonder if they've covered up something like this before."

The archaeologist nodded. "So maybe we need to look farther back than just eight years if we want the whole story. Look for other mentions of this weather thing, and if any of the people who mention it were near Sootopolis. To be honest, I don't expect us to get that lucky, but you never know."

"Well then," Dev said, cracking her knuckles. "What're we waiting for?"


	6. Summer Reading

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, okay! Sorry about just sort of up and leaving there for a little while! I completely up and moved cities a little over a week ago, and I was busy with unpacking and some college stuff before heading off for a short vacation before school started, so I didn't have much time to write for a while, let alone type any of it up. But! I finished this chapter and have started on seven. They'll come out a little slower now that I'm starting to get a little foggy on how exactly I want to get from point A to B, but they will keep coming, I promise! (If only because Felix bugs me about it. A lot.)
> 
> Oh, right, and massive thanks to anyone who just reads this story, really. It seriously means a lot to me. You have no idea how much those two kudos have meant to me. So thank you guys~

Felix had not been lying when he said the work would be dull and not terribly fruitful. The trio had started around three o'clock, and by seven, they were no closer to finding out…well, anything. They were flipping through book after book, Aaron and Devin a little slower than Felix because he better knew what to look for, and what to ignore. There were a couple of false alarms at first, but since about quarter to six, they'd worked in silence. And the museum and its library closed at seven-thirty.

Aaron sighed and snapped his book shut, stretching as he leaned his chair back onto its hind legs. He supposed all this work was tedious, but he actually found he didn't mind. He was learning little snippets of Hoenn's documented history (or, had been, before he'd started looking through weather reports at Felix's suggestion). He took a moment to give his brain a break before glancing at the time again. Five after seven. They'd get kicked out soon. They should probably leave before that, so they wouldn't get a bad reputation with the staff. They couldn't research anything if they were banned from the building.

…Devin and Felix, he reminded himself. Devin and Felix. Minus him. 'They' couldn't refer to all three of them after tonight; he had to get back to patrolling tomorrow. The thought of having to leave his friends so soon saddened him, but patrolling was important, if often dull. He couldn't just not go.

But that was something to think about later, over dinner. Now, he still had time to check the next book on the shelf. More weather reports. He'd gone over every year for the past sixteen years of so, but had found nothing out of the ordinary. However, this was all official; the Ranger wasn't sure he'd find anything at all. But you never knew.

And it would end up being the absolute latest time that he could possibly find anything at, too. At precisely 7:27, Aaron quickly flipped open the next book and actually found something of interest. 

Normally, he wasn't a fan of defacing books in any manner, but in this case, he'd make an exception for the two short lines written next to the date 'January 27, 1995':

'There are three Pokémon involved, making the name 'Weather Trio' appropriate.'

That was all. No signature, no initials, nothing. But it was enough to make Aaron jump out of his seat, startling Dev, who was seated nearby, and—

"I'm sorry, but our library and exhibits are now closed," the librarian's voice rang through the aisles. "No need to return your books to the shelves; we'll find their places."

Aaron looked sheepishly at the piles they had amassed, but he didn't want to lose this book. He quickly memorized the page number and the title, and dashed to put it back before anyone saw, hiding it behind some dusty map books that looked as though they'd gone undisturbed for years. He darted back to his table and started guiltily tidying up books that were strewn everywhere. He noticed Dev's confused look, but didn't want to talk about it with the librarian so close. She seemed to understand, and kept her silence. The three of them were soon shooed towards the stairwell and out the doors, the staff assuring them they could return the next day at nine, when they opened.

It being summertime, the sun hadn’t yet begun to set, so Aaron suggested they take a short walk along the beach to stretch their legs; he'd listen to their findings before revealing his. Neither of the others had found anything of note, though. Felix had utterly lost track of the time; he had intended to move downstairs after a few hours to have a look at the artifacts, see if he could find something, anything.

The archaeologist sighed, but didn't seem at all defeated. If anything, he just appeared to be more determined. "You can't just completely erase history," he said confidently. "Someone's bound to have slipped up somewhere."

"Or someone didn't want it forgotten in the first place," Aaron said. He smiled at the looks he got from that, and recited, "'There are three Pokémon involved, making the name 'Weather Trio' appropriate.' January twenty-seventh, nineteen ninety-five is the date that that was written next to in an old collection of weather reports."

Felix jumped on that immediately, firing off statements as he whipped a notebook from his bag and began rapidly jotting down notes. "Nineteen ninety-five? That's eighteen years ago, give or take a few months; it matches up with my notes about one of the journal entries I saw, so it might be the same person writing that. He dismissed the weather in his journal, but might've done that so it wouldn't be confiscated by the League or something. It could be a coincidence, maybe, but the chances of that are really low. Now, it being a different person entirely, that's very possible. I'd have to see the handwriting to be sure. It's been fifty years, and just because the weather hasn't been noted doesn't mean nothing related has happened since then, or even before." He paused to take a breath, then made a face. "We have to wait 'til tomorrow to find out anything! Finally, we start getting somewhere, and we have to wait."

"I stashed the book behind some dusty atlases, just in case," Aaron said. Dev just chuckled slightly.

"Calm down, Felix. Museum's closed, anyway, which sucks for us, but that means no one else can get in, either."

"Weeell…"

"We're not breaking in."

"Aw!"

\-- * --

After a short debate about where to sleep and Dev and Aaron reminding Felix that they could get up early to get to the museum before opening rather than sleeping in a hotel nearby in order to be first through the doors ("Because everyone's just dying to be first into the local museum," Dev said dryly at one point), the three made their way to the outskirts of the city. They only stopped briefly at a grocery store to pick up some food for an easy campfire dinner that night before hunting down a campsite area and setting up their tents. No large Pokémon were allowed to be let out in the park, so they only had three Pokémon out to accompany them: Ziva, Dev's Charmeleon, to light the fire and to be a walking nightlight; Skylord, Aaron's own Poochyena; and Chomper, Felix's Feraligatr, because as Felix put it, he'd get grumpy if kept in his Pokéball for too long, and you didn't piss off something that sported very powerful two-foot-long jaws. 

Not that he'd have to deal with the grumpy Water-type starter, Aaron had to sternly remind himself. It was a Saturday night; he had to return to patrolling the next morning after breakfast, which meant leaving Slateport behind, along with his two new friends. Devin and Felix seemed to have forgotten that. They'd been discussing some theories as to the mystery writer and where else they might possibly find some more of their handwritten notes. They talked as if it would be the three of them searching, when in reality they would be down a member.

It was possible that maybe they didn't really want him around, and had discussed a replacement already.  
Aaron pushed the thought to the back of his mind and ignored it, but did say in a break in the conversation, "You guys do know I have to leave tomorrow, right?"

Instantly, both of the others went silent, and at least had the decency to look guilty. "Shit, I forgot," Devin said, looking upset. "Damn, and I was just getting used to us, too. As, y'know, a group."

Felix nodded in agreement. "That sucks, man. No loopholes, huh?"

Aaron shook his head. "I've been thinking about it a lot," he said truthfully. "Nothing. And I mean, helping you is important to me, but…"

Felix held up his hands. "Nah, it's okay, I totally understand," he said, and Aaron thought it really sounded like he meant it. "Maybe we'll cross paths sometime, though, huh? D'you carry around a phone or anything?"

"Oh yeah. Hang on, lemme dig it out."

Once they'd all exchanged numbers and Aaron's mind had been set at ease, they broke out the hot dogs and actually started the fire. Felix and Aaron had to wait for the flames to get hot enough and then burn down somewhat to embers; Dev was the only one Ziva would let cook a hot dog over her tail's flame.

After nearly a half hour of throwing theories around, just as the sky was starting to turn pink, Aaron finally banned the topic of their day in the library so they could talk about anything else. So they ended up talking about anything and everything—more about themselves, their jobs, their Pokémon. Favourite bands, movies, places to visit and be. Stories were constantly being exchanged in between all of these. It was nearly midnight before Chomper finally lumbered over and completely doused the fire with water, effectively sending them to bed so he could sleep without them talking. They bade one another good night and separated, Dev disappearing into her own tent and Aaron and Felix ducking into Aaron's. It had seemed pointless to set up each of their own tents for just one night. 

Felix dropped off to sleep almost immediately, softly snoring away, but Aaron was too caught up in his thoughts to sleep right away. He was sad to be leaving Felix and Devin so soon, but what could he do? There was a tracker in the Styler he had been instructed to continue carrying around, although that was mainly for keeping track of him on missions and finding him if they couldn't establish contact with him. He knew they would refer to it if they thought he was goofing off and not doing his job, though, and he could easily lose everything he had. That was the very last thing he wanted. And besides, it would feel wrong to shirk his duties and lie in his daily reports about where he was and what had occurred over the day. He had no set patrolling area; he could go wherever in the region he pleased, since cruelty and natural disasters weren't limited to one area, but he had to keep moving unless he found an incident that needed taking care of, which would be reported to the base. At least he had a way of contacting the other two now. He could always meet up with them somewhere along the way, if their paths ever neared one another. If they were travelling around a lot, things would be very different, but there was no telling how long they'd need to stay in Slateport, and then wherever their next vague lead led them to. No, he was best sticking to his duties. Plus, he wasn't alone. He had his team, and they did much to keep his spirits up, and keep him from feeling lonely. 

Aaron kept all this in mind as he eventually drifted off to sleep, reassured that this would not be the last he saw of Devin and Felix.

He hoped.


	7. False Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It starts getting more interesting (and longer) next chapter, I promise. Another (side-character) friend gets introduced, although Aaron stays out of the picture until chapter nine. Thanks for sticking with me 'til this point, though. Sorry this one's a bit short.

Their morning began around seven—again, thanks to Chomper. He was lazy when it suited him, and a little shit the rest of the time. Still, they wanted to be back at the museum by nine, so they needed some time beforehand to eat—and to say their goodbyes.

Dev, Aaron, and Felix ate breakfast together, a simple meal of just toast using a foldable metal contraption Devin carried around, held over, again, Ziva's flaming tail. As they ate, Aaron made a short call to the Ranger Base in Fortree City to check in and let them know his planned course for the day. He was to fly up to Verdanturf to go though the short tunnel connecting that city and Rustboro, partly because he hadn't been there in some time and partly for Dev's sake, after she'd off-handedly mentioned not having been able to send a letter to her father in a while. Aaron offered to take one to him, leaving Dev to quickly jot down the main events of her journey.

By the time it was quarter past eight, they were all packed up and ready to go. Devin hugged Aaron and thanked him for the favour he was doing her; Felix gave him a far more manly handshake and wished him safe travels, as well as expressing gratitude for the Ranger's help. With that, Aaron mounted his Flygon, Flavia, and took off, waving down at them. Dev and Felix returned the motion until he was too high to see them, and even then lingered until he was out of their sight as well. Oddly enough, Felix wasn't terribly sad to see Aaron go. He had a funny feeling they'd be seeing each other again soon.

He looked towards Dev and motioned towards the port city. "Shall we?" he inquired, the excitement from yesterday starting to return. It seemed like Dev picked up on his energy, for she grinned at him.

"Alright, alright, keep your pants on," she said, starting towards the campsite exit. Felix fell into step beside her.

"Do I have to?"

"If I do, you do."

"Oh, well then, in that case…"

Felix didn't even have to finish his sentence before he received a smack on the shoulder, and might have complained to Chomper about it if he didn’t think the Feraligatr lumbering behind them would take Devin's side, if he took a side at all. He looked none too pleased about being returned to his confining Pokéball when they reached the city limits, though, so Felix counted that as a small victory against the big jaw Pokémon.

They arrived at the museum ten minutes too early, and Felix fidgeted as they sat on a bench just outside the doors. His notes and theories were swirling through his mind as he tried to figure out any other connections he may have missed last night, other places they could look to see where this mystery person may have left more handwritten notes. Ten minutes felt like an eternity, but since it actually wasn't, the museum doors opened at precisely nine o'clock, and Dev and Felix were first through them. Because they just had so much competition.

The pair immediately made their way up the stairs and made a beeline for the area Aaron had been working in, quickly locating the atlases he's described and finding the desired book hidden behind them. Sure enough, on page six, next to January 27, there it was, the little note handwritten in black ink:

"'There are three Pokémon involved, making the name 'Weather Trio' appropriate'," Felix read aloud in a murmur. He examined the writing carefully, trying to remember the handwriting in the 1995 journal he'd read. He couldn't be completely sure, but he thought they looked similar, as said as much to Devin.

"Maybe they wanted some time between writing and publishing that journal and adding this note," Dev suggested, flipping back to this book's publication date. "Look—1997. His writing could have changed somewhat in two years, maybe more. He could've been waiting 'til it was safe to write anything."

"True." Felix decided he liked having other minds and opinions around. They did help to shape his own, even if they didn't quite match up. In this case, though, Dev was probably right. He turned back to the sixth page and looked at the weather report for that day in January. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But, again, official printing.

"Alright," he said after a few moments. "Go digging through more of these reports. Look for more of these notes, but keep looking for any odd weather patterns, just like before. I'm gonna see if I can find anything here by…" He flipped open his notebook. "Jeffrey Gauss. If that doesn't pan out, I'll head downstairs and check out some of the exhibits."

"Sounds good," Dev said with a nod. "I'll track you down if I find anything."

\-- * --

She didn't.

Devin nearly ended up throwing a book against a wall out of frustration when the weather reports abruptly ended, and in the middle of a year, no less. All of that reading and nothing had struck her as unusual. Felix was still in the library, then, and could see her fuming, and so thought it prudent to send her outside for awhile. His search amongst the shelves for Jeffrey Gauss went no better; there was one, a slim novel, but it was a biography, written by someone else. Felix flipped through it, hoping for an excerpt from one of his journals so they could at least compare the handwriting, but to no avail. All he learned was that Gauss was still alive, retired six years ago at forty-nine, and was living in Sinnoh at the time this biography was written.

He passed Dev on the stairs as she was returning to the second floor, looking slightly calmer than before, and turned her around to get her away from the books. They'd exhausted their few tenuous leads already, so he might as well take her along as he looked over the exhibits. Another voice and pair of eyes could be helpful.

They started at one end of the museum and worked their way around, not skipping over anything, even if it seemed irrelevant. One of the first Pokéballs ever made (Dev was glad the brown dots didn't make the first cut, apparently); a meteorite that smashed into the area between Lavaridge and Meteor Falls and set off Mt. Chimney nearly forty years ago; a pair of Moon Stones and a pair of Sun Stones, along with an elaborate theory about how they were taken from different sides of the moon and changed depending on how the sunlight hit them. Felix ended up having to drag Dev away from the last one.

Felix was looking over a petrified tree from Route 111, where near-perpetual sandstorms blew over the only desert area in the region, when Dev suddenly asked, "What sets volcanoes off? Like, what can make them erupt?"

Felix looked towards the redhead, who was looking at a large chunk of cooled lava from Mt. Chimney. "That's more geology than archaeology, but there are a few triggers for eruptions. Earthquakes, diverging tectonic plates, plugs in composite volcanoes that make pressure build up inside of them…why d'you ask?"

"'Cause there's no reason listed for this eruption back in 1994."

"They probably just didn't know the reason," he said with a shrug, turning back to the tree.

"They've got a reason for every other volcanic eruption here," Dev argued. "Why not this one? What's so different about this particular one?"

Felix looked back at Dev, finally starting to consider what she was saying. "Alright. 1994. Volcano erupts, lava everywhere, buildings destroyed, people probably dying. Cause of eruption: unknown. What do you suggest?"

"Triggered accidentally by Pokémon."

"Too smart for that, even accidentally. Any Pokémon living near a volcano knows better than to fuck with it like that."

"Triggered by people."

"No evidence left behind? Unlikely."

"Destroyed in the eruption."

"Why not put that in this info thing, then?"

"They want facts, not theories. If they weren't sure, they wouldn't want to explicitly state that."

"So…what else could cause it?"

Dev paused and frowned a little. "Shit, I dunno. Out of ideas. Meteor strike?"

Felix laughed. "No, that'd be a cause. Plus, twice in thirty years? Doubtful."

"But there must be something!" she insisted. "Wouldn't they say something if they simply didn't know? Not saying anything is basically like saying, 'Hey, we've got something to hide!'"

"Exactly."

Devin stared at him, though her stunned expression quickly turned into one of irritation as she gasped and whacked him on the arm. "You asshole, you thought it was strange from the start!"

He grinned. "I wanted to see what you could come up with. No crackpot theories, really; I'm disappointed."

The redhead huffed and folded her arms. "Fine, you dick, what theories do you have?"

The archaeologist's grin grew a little wider as he motioned to the plaque in between Dev and the cooled lava. "I theorize we need to pay a visit to Mt. Chimney."


	8. Up in the Air

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, I am really, really sorry this took so long. I've actually had this and chapter nine written for a while, but I forgot I hadn't put up eight yet. Sorry! Nine should be up sometime tomorrow evening. The plot'll really get moving soon. Though I think I've said that a few times already. Look, I'm bad at pacing, alright? I'll try to be a bit better with actually typing up the chapters after I finish writing them, though.

Though the decision to head for Mt. Chimney was made, Felix and Devin finished the last of their tour around the museum, since they were already here and were more than halfway done anyway. Surprisingly, they actually did find something else, even if it mostly just backed up something they already knew. There was a fairly large exhibit of an ice core taken from one of the glaciers around Snowpoint City in Sinnoh, with many of its layers marked with a year and particular geological event that was recorded within the ice. Of most interest to the pair were the thin layers of ash from volcanic activity. There were a reasonable amount of them, since volcanoes sometimes belched out a lot of smoke and ash without erupting. The nearby Stark Mountain was to blame for most of these layers, but some were thanks to Mt. Chimney, hence why the core was here in a Hoenn museum. There were four dates for their volcano, one of which matched with their earlier discovery: 1994. Felix took note of all the dates, but was especially interested in the most recent layers: 1994 and 2005. The core was only two years old.

"That almost matches up with what we already know," Dev said softly, staring at the core where it sat in its cooling case.

"Actually, it confirms it," Felix said, tucking his notebook away. "Jeffrey Gauss wrote his journal after anything may have happened."

Dev frowned. "No, that doesn't make sense. The eruption was in the December of 1994. The strange weather pattern was in January, 1995. Could they still be connected when there's a month or more between them?"

"Depends on what set off the volcano in the first place," he replied. "If it actually is a Pokémon that knows weather-changing moves like Sunny Day and Rain Dance, then it might be."

"There are no Pokémon naturally like that, though," the Breeder argued. "For one thing, few Pokémon can learn both moves that affect Fire- and Water-types, even by TM. Castform's the only one, which brings me to another point: none of those Pokémon are anywhere powerful enough to set off a volcano or have those moves affect the entire region. At least, not alone."

That seemed to really catch Felix's attention. "What'd you say?"

"Er, no Pokémon's strong enough to set off a volcano on their own…"

Felix's eyes widened. "Except Legendary Pokémon! Damn, I'm an idiot! Well, no, I'm actually great and smart and clever and witty and all the rest of it." He still looked incredibly annoyed with himself.

"Yeah, including aggravating and annoying and foolish…" Dev grinned and avoided his swat, but the grin quickly turned into a slight scowl. "Nice try, though. We don't have any Legendary Pokémon in Hoenn. I've heard of a few in Johto, and of course there's Arceus, but that's about it."

The archaeologist couldn't help but laugh at that, which only served to further deepen Dev's scowl. "What, so because you've never heard of them, they don't exist? Dev, there are still hundreds of species of common Pokémon that we haven't discovered yet. And Legendaries usually hide themselves away in hard-to-reach locations so people leave them alone. Which Pokémon d'you know of from Johto?"

"Well, there's Suicune, who's followed around by some nutcase name Eusine. He's written papers and everything on what he's found out about it. Um, there were two in Ecruteak City until one of their towers was badly burned in a fire, and then both flew off and haven't been seen since. Dunno about the one tower, but I have heard that having a special item and proving yourself worthy somehow will call the other one to you at the top of Bell Tower. It's apparently a giant, rainbow bird that commands fire. Makes the burning of the other tower seem kind of suspicious, if you ask me, but anyway." Dev paused. "Yeah, that's about all I've got."

She'd have really liked to punch off the smug look Felix gave her.

"So you don't know Suicune's part of a trio, then? Or that there's a very similar trio in Kanto, but with birds?"

"I do NOW." God, she was never going to get that self-satisfied look off of his face as long as she lived.

"Anyway, point is, general knowledge only goes so far. I'll bet there are other explorers and researchers in Hoenn that know perfectly well what the Legendaries here are." He fell silent for a moment, appearing lost in thought. "I'll bet that's it," he said slowly. "That's why the League is trying to cover all this up and has been for years. Legendaries would be catastrophic if the wrong people—or anyone, for that matter—found a way to control them. Even if they don't, just them being pissed off can be enough to set them off on a rampage. They're too powerful to really be controlled, though, which is probably why no one's managed it yet. People seem to forget that Pokémon aren't mindless tools; they can kick our asses. Except Feebas. Fuck those guys."

Dev made a mental note to help Aaron evolve his Feebas next time they all met up. "So you think this might be the work of a Legendary?" she asked.

"Might be. Would explain a lot. Volcanic eruptions without warning, strange region-wide weather patterns—"

"Hang on," she interrupted, a thought occurring to her suddenly. "It wasn't just one weather extreme—it was two. Sun and rain. We're back to the problem of next to no Pokémon learning that naturally. And you said Legendaries are powerful, but they tend to mostly just be tied to one type, even if they have two. Even if we know next to nothing else about these Pokémon, I can almost guarantee you they can't know both. It's simply not in their nature."

"So Castform…"

"Is an exception," she said firmly. Felix just sighed.

"Without knowing more about this Pokémon for sure, it's impossible to say one way or another. Don't get too attached to your theories, Dev. First rule of researching. If you're not willing to change your ideas, you'll start twisting facts to suit theories instead of the other way around."

"Fine, fine."

"Good. You're learning."

"Learning what?"

"That I'm always right, and you should automatically just agree with me without questio—hey! I did nothing to deserve that!"

Dev just rolled her eyes as she unballed her fist. "And that, Felix, is where you are completely and utterly wrong."

\-- * --

After finishing up in the museum and finding nothing else relevant to the case at hand, Felix and Devin briefly stopped for a small lunch. Since it had barely been three hours since breakfast and wasn't even quite noon yet, Dev questioned the decision as they stood in line, and Felix explained Oz's…tendencies to her. For all his sidetracking, though, he was still the quickest way to Lavaridge and the nearby volcano, as they had no other Pokémon between them who could fly with passengers. But, since he took forever, Felix figured they ought to eat before heading out.

Half an hour later found the pair outside Slateport's entrance, and Dev was at last introduced to her very first Drifblim. The blimp-like Pokémon stared at her as she stared right back, and after a few moments she said, "They're actually a lot bigger than I thought—OW!" 

Dev didn't hesitate to lash out a kick at Felix's leg after he'd made contact with her own shin, but he managed to avoid it and muttered in her ear a moment later, "Look, he's got some sort of weird gland problem or something; makes him puff up so he's way bigger than other Drifblim, and he's very sensitive about it."

"Oookay." Dev couldn't think of anything that would make a Drifblim expand to almost twice its usual size, but she also wasn't any sort of doctor, so she let it slide. "Does he have a—"

Oddly, Oz chose that moment to let out a yawn, and a large black gap of a mouth suddenly opened up right beneath the yellow cross on his face. Dev instantly scrambled backwards, actually hiding behind Felix for half a second before stepping away, feeling embarrassed. Felix didn't say anything, but she could see him fighting to keep a smile off his face. Bastard.

She was still a bit skeptical about his ability to get off the ground, though. "Are you sure he can carry both of us at once?" she asked. The instant she saw Felix open his mouth to answer, she immediately added, "And I swear to god, if you make any sort of joke about my goddamn weight, I'll rip out your tongue and feed it to him."

That shut him up for about half a second, but the male quickly recovered. "He's fine. He can fill himself up with enough gases to carry a Golem to the moon. Well, maybe not, 'cause y'know, spaaaaaace—" he wiggled his fingers at Dev briefly "—but yeah. Shouldn't be a problem. His self-control is already out the window, anyway."

That didn't do much to quell Dev's worries. Really, the only thing that did was Oz puffing himself up with Felix, Devin, and both of their backpacks on the top of his head and immediately lifting off the ground. It was quite a sight for Devin, seeing the ground suddenly fall away from underneath them. She nearly fell off the damn Pokémon, though, when a hand on her back made her start.

"Christ, Felix!"

"Sorry, I didn't think you'd be so jumpy! I was, uh, just gonna tell you not to fall."

She gave him a withering look, which had the undesired effect of putting a grin on his face, but scooted closer to Oz's crown, where their bags were. "It's pretty incredible, though," she said softly, looking out over the city and to the wide open sea. The Breeder let out a breath. "I've never flown before."

"Really?" She could hear the surprise in the archaeologist's voice.

The redhead shook her head. "Nope. Dad's afraid of flying, so we walk everywhere. Well, I ride Eridan, my Rapidash, most of the time. It was pretty lucky, actually…"

"What's that?"

Dev suddenly realized what she'd said, and immediately stammered, "Oh, uh…wait, how the hell can you be hungry already?"

Felix scowled. "Hey, breakfast was small, early lunch was light—guy's gotta eat," he said defensively as he opened a can of tuna and their bag of bread.

"Flying with you is gonna be such a joy, I can tell."

"Look on the bright side: with all of Oz's side-tracking, you'll get to spend even more time with me!"

Dev just gave him a mock groan in response.


	9. Dead or Alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes alright sorry it's a day later than I said but I had homework okay

Felix wasn't sure if it was because there wasn't much around to interest his flighty Drifblim, or if he was trying to impress Devin for some reason, because they made it to Lavaridge Town in record time. For Oz, anyway. Only two minor detours. Felix was very proud, though of course he'd never admit it out loud. Still, he patted the Drifblim as the volcanic city came into sight, and looked towards Dev. She had her arms wrapped around her knees and was watching Avalynn and Abbott lazily floating about on the air currents. They'd worn themselves out earlier, each one taking turns chasing the other, but Dev seemed in no rush to return them. The aggressive Beautifly was probably easier to handle when worn out. Besides, they were going to be around a volcano, so they wouldn't be too impressed about being let out in such a hot environment, especially if they came across any lava.

"You're not planning on breeding them or anything, are you?" Felix asked to pass their last few minutes up in the air. Dev snorted.

"God, no. The last thing I need is a bunch of potently poisonous, aggressive Beautifly."

"Is that hereditary? The aggression, I mean?"

Dev thought about that. "Yeah, I think it is. All Beautifly are pretty territorial, which is why I have them get used to me right when they hatch as Wurmple. Funny enough, Dustox are a lot more docile, but you never know which evolutionary path they're gonna take until they evolve into either Silcoon or Cascoon. I think they actually sort of choose, though," she mused. "More timid Wurmple usually become Dustox, while the more active ones become Beautifly. It's not for sure, though, which is kinda what makes me think it might be a choice."

"You don't breed Dustox, do you?" the archaeologist asked. Dev shook her head.

"No, they're far too poisonous to keep in large numbers, and they eat too much. We release them in different parts of the region if they evolve in Cascoon. Besides, Beautifly tend to do better in the visual appeal part of contests."

By this time, Oz was beginning to let out gas and start his descent, so Felix put away the few things he'd taken out during the flight and secured everything. Dev returned the Beautifly and Butterfree, as they had decided they may as well visit the Pokémon Center to heal up their parties before setting out, which was precisely what they did. They would have landed closer to the actual entrance of the Jagged Pass that led up Mt. Chimney, but the volcano was venting right now, and the hot air interfered with Oz's flight patterns too much to land much closer than this. 

As they set out towards the pass, Dev expanded on her home life and her job a little more. Felix learned they had primarily bred Beautifly up until about nine years ago, when a trip to Kanto brought them into contact with Butterfree, a species that would make for a more exotic contest Pokémon. It was also where Dev first met Professor Oak, along with Ziva, then a Charmander, and a Ponyta and Eevee on other trips. She hadn't gotten to travel around as much lately, before the incident with Avalynn, because she'd taken over so much of the breeding side of the business while her father did the paperwork and worked on his research into Bug-type Pokémon. Caring for about two dozen Pokémon at any given time didn't leave much time for vacations, or even travelling for work. Her being out here wasn't putting too much strain on her father, as he had taken care of the business himself for over a decade, but she confessed that she was eager to get back home so he could go back to doing what he really loved: his research. 

She seemed about to say something else when they spotted the entrance to the pass just up ahead, announced by a large sign that warned of falling rocks and volcanic ash drifting down sometimes, along with the fact that one couldn't climb the pass without climbing equipment or the right sort of bicycle. Seeing as how they had neither, and Oz wasn't capable of flying here, Felix stopped and frowned at the sign.

"Uh, Dev, how d'you expect us to get up through the pass?" he asked. The sign also pointed to a cable car some ways away. He sighed heavily. "I guess we'll have to go around."

"Nah," Dev laughed. "We've got something better, and much faster."

The redhead tossed a Pokéball out in front of her to reveal a cream-coloured horse with a flaming mane and tail, who snorted and tossed its head as soon as it materialized. "Eridan can carry us up."

Felix stared at the Rapidash for a moment, then turned and started walking off. "I'm taking the cable car."

"Fuck that, no you're not," Devin said, grabbing his arm and hauling him back to Eridan's side. "This is faster and easier. Eri's strong and sure-footed, generally. We'll be fine."

"Generally?" Felix echoed in disbelief as he watched Dev easily mount the fiery horse and looked towards him. He shook his head. "Nope. No way you're getting me on that thing."

"Never ridden before?"

Felix didn't answer, but obviously she could read it on his face, because she laughed and dismounted. "Hey, I flew today, so you get to ride today. C'mon, you up first, since you'll probably kick me in the face if I'm up there. It's easy."

He still had his doubts, but Dev was right. It was probably almost an hour's walk to the cable car, and that wasn't even including the ride up. Reluctantly, he set his resignations aside and used Dev's cupped hands to boost himself onto the Rapidash's back. It was rather uncomfortable, he decided once he'd settled down somewhat. It was easy for Dev to call riding simple…

It was only once she had mounted ahead of him that he realized a few things. "Hey, so, first of all, we're bareback, which I might have less of a problem with if, second of all, the less experienced person should go at the front. I'm gonna slide right off and burn my ass on the way down."

"You control Rapidash with your legs, not the reins. And would you rather be ahead of me?"

Felix almost said yes until he noted the tone in Dev's voice, and he leaned around her to be faced with Eridan's burning mane. "Uh…never mind."

"Thought so." She was smirking. He couldn't see it, but it was evident in her voice. Maybe this was all payback for scaring the crap out of her earlier on Oz. "Hang on."

"To what?!"

He had to figure that out for himself as Eridan suddenly sprang forward, trotting towards the crags as a lively pace. With nothing else to hold onto, Felix just wrapped his arms around Dev's waist, chucking propriety out the window, as Eridan picked his way up the steep cliffs. Well, that would be more accurately described as "blazing his own path", actually, considering most of the time the Rapidash would just kick in the rock face with his diamond-hard hooves and made his own steps.

They were up to the first level in no time, and they split up after Felix explained to Dev what sorts of things they were looking for. Which, in reality, was just anything that struck her as unusual. They had to remount Eridan twice more, though, before Felix stumbled upon something that was, in his opinion, quite strange indeed: a slight indent in the rock face that shouldn't have been so perfectly square. He called Dev over as he started brushing away at the markings in the middle of the square, and to her credit she didn't interrupt until he'd finished revealing what appeared to be a sort of building-like symbol with three jagged tips on top. It actually looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it.

The panel was a little smaller than his splayed hand, something he made a note of in his notebook while he quickly redrew the symbol for his own purposes. Even Dev mentioned that it seemed sort of familiar, but they decided to focus on it later, since neither were sure where they knew it from. He had just finished copying the symbol into his journal when Dev suddenly asked, "Can we press it?"

Felix was somewhat torn. "Well, on one hand, it could open up a secret door or something. On the other, it could trigger something that kills us slowly and painfully."

They both stood there for a few moments, staring at the panel in silence, when Felix decided to throw caution to the wind—because how else would anything ever get done?—and pressed his hand against the symbol. The panel slid a few centimetres forward with an audible grinding noise until they heard a click.

For a moment, nothing happened, and Felix was actually mentally preparing himself to get eaten by an Arbok when the wall in front of them also slid back a little ways, then moved smoothly to the side.

…Smoothly?

"Uh…" Dev began as they both stared at what the hidden door had revealed. "Ancient civilizations were pretty advanced."

"Very funny."

Felix was the first one through the door, moving forward at a slow pace as he took in their sudden change of surroundings. They had walked into a hallway made entirely of metal, with wires running everywhere and unlit lights lining the walls. He had to take out his flashlight and flick it on to see more beyond the light that came in through the doorway. A little ways away, an electric door was embedded in the wall. It would likely have opened automatically as he drew near had any power been running through the place, but as it was, the door remained closed. The hallway ended in a similar door, he could see, and was about to move towards it when he realized he'd only been hearing one set of footsteps echo through the hall. He turned around to see Devin still standing at the entrance, her expression oddly blank.

"What're you waiting for, Dev, an invitation?" he called back to her, confused. 

She took her time answering, but seemed to have decided something as she stepped through the doorway, Eridan right by her side. His fiery glow was better than any torch or flashlight, so Felix flicked his off and pocketed it as he kept moving, and was examining the door when they caught up. Krunch could easily take it down, and it would be his great pleasure to do so, but the halfway was too narrow for the Bastiodon. Devin and Eridan had only a foot to spare on either side of them, and the Rapidash was staying very close to Dev. Or was it the other way around?

The archaeologist hummed for a moment. "Got any compact powerhouses there, Dev?"

"Just Eridan, really, and I don't think his kick is strong enough to break down or through a thick steel door. Didn't you say last night that you have a Magnezone?"

Felix made a face. "Sure, if I can get him to stop being a strobe light for about three seconds—which, for the record, isn't possible. He even does it while battling."

"He could still try shocking it," Dev reasoned. Felix thought about it.

"Nah, I've got another idea. Lurch, c'mon out!" he said, throwing out a little red-and-white sphere in between him and Dev and Eridan, the latter two having to quickly back up to make room for the large Golurk, who had to crouch as it was to fit in the hallway. It suddenly felt a lot more cramped in here.

Even if he couldn't really show it, Lurch was obviously unimpressed by his surroundings, and looked towards Felix as if demanding an explanation for this bullshit. Even if he'd probably never put it that way, if he could talk.   
"Don't give me that, just break down this door and I'll put you back," Felix huffed, moving off to the side for a clear shot. Lurch didn't move an inch. Felix sighed and glanced towards Dev. "He hates using physical force. An absolute nightmare to try battling with, he is. Good cook, though."

Dev chuckled, and Felix turned his attention back towards Lurch. "Look, man, we both know Chomper's lazy ass could tear this thing open in half a minute, but then I'll have made him do actual work, and we both know how well that goes over."

Lurch seemed to consider that for a few moments before drawing back his fist, a reddish glow surrounding it before the Golurk swung his fist forward with as much force as he could muster in the cramped space. The DynamicPunch sent the steel door flying as soon as it made contact with it, the dull clank of the steel crashing against rock echoing throughout the adjoining chamber. Felix looked around the edge of the doorframe and made a noise. "Huh. I guess it would have been a slider. Right. Oh well. Thanks, bud." True to his word, he returned Lurch to his ball before stepping though the new gap. It was too dark to really see much until Dev followed along behind with Eridan by her side, his fire illuminating some of their surroundings. This chamber was much larger, though still stuffy and warm, the ceiling arcing quite high above them. There wasn't any metal on the walls aside from supporting beams, though there were just as many wires criss-crossing everywhere. 

"We're inside the volcano," Dev breathed from behind him. "We're actually inside a goddamn volcano."

"What, you didn't realize that when we, y'know, walked through a wall on the outside of a volcano?" Felix snorted.

"No! I mean, yeah, but…look, I didn't realize Lavaridge was that fucking close to an active volcano, I though it was closer to the base and there was more of a mountain separating them or something. But it's way too hot for that."

"You sure you actually live in this region?" he asked, but wasn't really looking for an answer; he'd already started drifting away from the conversation and focusing his attention around them. There…really wasn't much to see beyond his initial observations. The high-ceilinged cavern had obviously been blown out and reinforced by the aforementioned steel beams, but never really refined. Whoever did this did it for functionality, not appearances. This was no Trainer's secret base; it must have been expensive to do all this. Definitely man-made, though, that was painfully obvious. But why, though?

Then the wall exploded.


	10. Familiar Faces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, basically, I have no excuse for my...three month hiatus. I just sort of got stuck, got frustrated, and gave up for a bit. But, Felix is nothing if not persistent (read: he nagged me a lot), and it's Christmas and such, so have a chapter! Hopefully you won't have to wait another three months for the next one.
> 
> Merry (Belated) Christmas, Felix and Aaron~

Aaron was just not having a good day.

It had been more than four hours since he'd left Slateport City, and only now was he landing in New Mauville to heal his Pokémon, Flavia especially. He now had two Joltiks in their balls in his backpack after an incident on the way to the next city, one that had cast a cloud over his entire day and necessitated a call to the Ranger Base in Foretree. He contacted Alana, his Leader, brought her up to speed on the situation, and mentioned the pair of Joltik he had acquired.

"Should I bring them in now?" Aaron asked. Across the video link, he watched as the older blonde woman thought about it briefly before shaking her head. 

"No. You can't legally use either of them in battle, and I advise you against letting them out at all, but they can hold out until tomorrow. You can take the rest of today off and—"

"No." Aaron felt a touch guilty about cutting his Leader off when she gave him a disapproving look for interrupting her, but held his ground. Mostly. "Er, I mean, sorry, but no. I knew what I was signing up for. This is the reason I signed up. It's not always easy, but what kind of a Ranger would I be if I ran and his at the first sign of trouble?" 

Alana was silent for a moment after he finished, but a small smile slowly appeared on her face. "Can't argue with that," she admitted. "Alright then, since you're closer than Derek or I are, you can go investigate a slight disturbance just north of where you are. It's not enough for the police to investigate, but a friend called me and asked for someone to check it out."

"Sure thing. Where am I headed?"

\-- * --

A little under an hour later, Aaron and Flavia were touching down in Lavaridge Town. He quickly located Alana's friend waiting by the Gym there and learned of a suspicious individual who had been asking about the nearby volcano, and who had afterwards set out for the Jagged Pass. Apparently they asked some unusual questions, but the police didn't investigate people for asking questions, so the man had thought of the newly-established Pokémon Rangers. So, here he was, taking off after whoever was here. What he was going to do when he met up with this person, though, Aaron hadn't a clue.

He recruited Flavia to get him to the pass, and then help him up the jagged ledges. It didn't take them long to find something out of place: an opening in one of the small cliffs that led right into the side of the mountain, with an odd symbol next to it. Aaron exchanged Flavia for Skylord, clicked on his headlamp, and entered the mountain.

It was strange, looking around and seeing not rock, but metal. It was obviously manmade, as one could tell just by the entranceway, but probably not used very often. Someone had been here recently, though, judging by the massive hole in a steel door up ahead.

All of a sudden, Skylord stopped and let out a low whine, moments before there was an explosive sound nearby, something that caused the entire hallway to tremble. For a moment, Aaron considered turning around, until he remembered there was likely still someone in here. He immediately broke into a run, the little Poochyena at his heels.

\-- * --

Dev wasn't sure if she had been knocked unconscious; her head certainly hurt enough, and it felt like she was moving through a fog. She'd probably been hit. At least it was clearing up somewhat quickly now that she was more alert, but it was dark as dicks under—

Oh.

As soon as it registered where she was, Devin could feel panic begin to well up inside her, fear flooding her mind and overriding any sane thought. All she wanted, all she needed, was to get out and get out _now_. She staggered to her feet and began blindly stumbling forward. Her ears were still ringing from the blast. She had no idea where she was going, but it didn't matter, she just had to move, had to get out, had to escape—

A hand suddenly closed around her wrist, and she let out a shriek as she tried to break free, lashing out backwards with her foot, not even looking to see who it was, what it was, though it could be her brother trying to pull her further in, thinking this was funny, this was all some big joke to him, but she'd be damned if she was going to spend another goddamn second in this dark cave—

"Devin! _Devin!_ "

She could finally start to hear again, but that wasn't Danté's voice, that was someone else, someone new, someone who knew her name somehow. Who was that? She trusted it, somehow, though, so she stopped struggling and turned around to see, well, nothing, because she couldn't see, and that just brought on a fresh wave of panic and she started to pull away again, but that just caused whoever it was to clutch her wrist tighter and put his other hand on her shoulder, shaking her slightly like she wasn't already shaking enough.

"Devin, calm down, it's me!" he insisted (because it was a he), but that wasn't much help if she couldn't identify the voice. Lucky for him, light suddenly flooded the cavern again. It hurt, the sudden shift from total blackness to brightness, but the redhead was thankful for it, because it was better than the never-ending darkness. As her eyesight adjusted, she could make out Eridan standing a way's away, looking tired, but he trotted over to Dev when she gratefully called out his name. He knew of her fear of the darkness of caves, and what that darkness hid.

Now she looked back to whoever was holding her. As her pounding heart began to slow and the fear and panic began to leave her, she could finally put Felix's voice to his name and face. She'd never seen him looking so concerned, though. It took a moment for her to realize that his concern was for _her_. She had just sort of completely freaked out, after all, and now that the panic was subsiding, she could feel that her face was wet. Dev immediately shook Felix's hand from her shoulder and reached up to wipe the tears from her cheeks, turning away from the archaeologist as she did so. She couldn't exactly move away, though, what with his still holding her wrist and all. Great. Now she just felt like an idiot.

"What—" Felix began, but (thankfully) broke off when they heard rapid footsteps somewhere behind them. They both turned to the source of the noise, and Devin felt Felix tense up. It was unneeded, however, as the person (and Pokémon) came into view.

"Aaron?!" Felix exclaimed, sounding as surprised as Devin felt and Aaron looked.

"Uh," Aaron began, looking between the two of them. "What are you guys doing here? Actually, wait—are you alright?"

Felix looked towards Dev as he released her wrist at last, apparently not sure whether or not they were alright, and received a brief scowl for his worries before Dev looked back towards Aaron with a gentler look. "We're fine, sweetie," she assured him, because it was true. More or less. Eridan was here, so she would be okay.

Aaron clicked off his headlamp and moved closer to them, Skylord trotting along beside him. "Okay, good. What the heck was that?"

"Dunno," Felix admitted, finally diverting his attention from the girl next to him. "Something exploded, but I think Dev's Rapidash took the brunt of it." He patted Eridan on the nose, and Aaron immediately sprang into action, hurrying over to the fire horse and looking him over thoroughly. Dev couldn't see any physical injuries, and apparently neither could Aaron, but he drew out a Hyper Potion to use on him anyway, which seemed to perk Eridan up almost immediately. 

Dev smiled her thanks at him before asking, "What're you doing here, anyway?"

Aaron smiled faintly. "I think I'm investigating you two. Apparently someone was asking some strange questions around town before coming here, to the pass."

Dev almost nodded, but stopped and looked at Felix strangely. "But…"

"We didn't ask any questions," Felix finished for her, brow furrowing. "Didn't want to draw any attention to ourselves, just in case."

"So basically, we're not the only ones in here," Aaron said with a sigh. "Think they're behind the explosion?"

"Sorry!" a female voice suddenly piped up from a little ways away, causing them all to whip around towards the sound. "That was my fault," she said as she moved into Eridan's circle of light.

A young woman stood before them, looking to be around Dev's age while still being taller than the rest of them. She sported mid-length brown hair and wore rather nice clothing for cavern-crawling, but exuded an air of wearing whatever struck her fancy and making it look good. She had a grin on her face, but next to Dev, Felix very audibly groaned. "Oh god, not _you_."

"What? You didn't expect me to be in one of the few places he was supposedly spotted?" she huffed, folding her arms. 

Felix frowned at that. "Even if Groudon was here at one point, there's no chance you've never been to this volcano before. It's the obvious choice. What are the chances of us being here at the exact same time?"

The woman laughed. "Extremely good, considering I practically live here. Team Magma has no use for it now."

The archaeologist snapped his fingers, the sound echoing throughout the high-ceilinged room. "Right! I knew I recognized that symbol outside!"

The brunette frowned slightly. "Did you leave the escape door open?"

Sensing Felix was about to get some shit from this woman, whoever she was, Dev added, "He made a giant hole in the second one we came across, too."

"You WHAT?!"

"Uh, Aaron, Devin, this is Natalie," Felix said quickly, shooting a glare at Dev and receiving a shit-eating grin in return. "She's obsessed with the Legendary Pokémon of the land, Groudon."

At the mentioning of Groudon's name, Natalie seemed to instantly forget her irritation. "I am!" she said excitedly. "I've been looking into his legend for the better part of eight months now. He's amazing, reportedly over eleven feet tall, two thousand pounds, armoured in red plating, can lift land masses from the darkest depths of the ocean—"

"Yeah, and before Groudon is was Lugia, and before that there was Giratina, and I forget the one in the middle but then there was Celebi," Felix interrupted, then stopped himself. "Anyway. Go away, Natalie."

Natalie stuck out her tongue at him, and earned brownie points in Devin's book for making no move to obey. Aaron took the opportunity to ask, "What did you do, Natalie?"

"Hm? Oh, set off an old booby trap," she replied with a wave of her hand. "There are Electrodes hidden in the walls. Most are gone now, but one or two have hung on throughout the years."

"Is it okay?" the Ranger asked immediately, sounding worried. "Natalie looked surprised.

"I didn't even think to check," she admitted, looking slightly abashed, but Aaron had already torn off in the direction Natalie had come from.

"You okay?" Dev asked. The other woman smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, thanks. Devin, right?"

"Dev. And you're welcome."

"Gotcha. Yeah, my Torkoal set it off by accident after he'd gone past it on the other side of the wall. He's alright, though now he's off looking for more. Hope he doesn't find any."

Aaron chose that moment to return, a dark look on his face. He silently moved over to Dev and tugged at her sleeve, then quietly asked, "Can we leave? Please?"

Dev didn't hesitate to say yes, even before she saw the look on his face. Felix looked ready to argue, but stopped before he'd even started when Dev just shook her head. "Alright, we're going. Hope we don't see you around, Nat," he said.

Dev scowled after him as he started off. "Rude. It was nice meeting you, Natalie."

"Same here," she said, seemingly unfazed by Felix's attitude. She hesitated for a moment, then added, "I dunno what you're looking for, but I've been over this base a hundred times and found nothing. Meteor Falls is generally a good place to find weird things, though."

The redhead grinned at the other young woman. "Thanks for that. See you around?"

"Oh, probably," Natalie replied airily, waving as Dev and Aaron turned away and followed Felix back the way they'd come, Eridan and Skylord in tow. For a moment, Dev thought she saw something grinning at her from the shadows, but immediately dismissed it. She was just being paranoid.


	11. Airing Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes hello I am still here. Bit short today, but you'll survive. Happy New Year!

The three of them ended up back at the Pokémon Center in Lavaridge, partly because Dev wanted to heal Eridan, and partly so they could figure out what exactly to do next. Dev told Felix about Natalie's suggestion to go to Meteor Falls, but he didn't want to go quite yet. They had a few things to talk about first.

So, twenty minutes later, the three of them had removed their shoes and were sitting at the edge of the natural hot springs just beside the hospital, dipping their feet in the almost too-hot water. Skylord was lying on a warm rock a little ways away, napping, while Milena, Aaron's Feebas, swam about in the spring like the heat didn't bother her at all. Felix considered bringing Chomper out, but the Feraligatr didn't appreciate hot water.

At first they all just caught up to speed on each others' days—Felix and Dev relayed their findings to Aaron, and the dead end they now found themselves at, barring Natalie's suggestion. Aaron, in turn, told the others of coming to Lavaridge on a resident's gut feeling of a suspicious person wandering around. He also mentioned how he now figured that was Natalie.

"You'd think she would ask those questions before now, though," Devin mused.

"You'd be surprised how much people's stories can change over time," Felix said. "Lies are harder to remember than the truth, so they can't keep their own stories straight if they're lying or hiding something." He frowned a little. "Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if she just didn't think about it until today."

"That reminds me," Aaron said suddenly, "you talk like you know her."

The older male made a face. "Unfortunately. We've crossed paths more than a few times, and not just in Hoenn. There are only so many myths and legends and ruins around, you know. Natalie's a fanatic—if something interests her, she becomes obsessed with it for a while until something else catches her attention. Her father owns a lot of high-end property in Johto and Sinnoh, which is why she can travel so much. She's irritating as hell, though; we caught her in a mellow mood."

"To be fair, she did just blow up a wall and get caught in the blast," Dev pointed out. "I like her, though."  
Felix snorted. "Why, 'cause she gets under my skin without even trying?"

"Believe it or not, Felix, not everything is about you," she replied dryly. There was a pause before she added, "But yeah, partly."

Aaron laughed slightly. "Did you two bicker the entire way here?"

"No!" Dev insisted, at the same time Felix sighed, "Yeah."

There was a beat of silence before the trio erupted into laughter. Maybe it was a little forced, maybe it was a little strained, but it seemed like they needed it. Felix could sense a sort of tension running through the group, and not all for the same reasons. It wouldn't do them any good to just avoid talking about it, so Felix decided to start with the elder of the two.

Once the laughter had died down, he ruined the aftermath of the moment by asking, "What happened to you back there, Dev?"

Dev visibly tensed, all trace of her previous humour gone in an instant. She knew exactly what he was talking about, he could see, even if Aaron looked puzzled. She seemed ready to deny that anything was wrong, but hesitated, like she knew she would be fighting a lost battle. The redhead leaned against the rocks at her back and looked up at the sky.

"It's nothing like what you're thinking," she finally began after a few moments' silence. "It's really sort of…anyway. When I was young, like five or six, my brother talked me into going into a cave at the edge of our property. Can't remember why I did it. I just remember going in, deeper and deeper, until I couldn't see any light from the cave opening. So I turned on my flashlight and saw dozens of Golbats staring right back at me. I stirred up a nest of them and their young just by turning on a light. They were so loud; I couldn't hear anything but their screeching, couldn't even hear myself scream, and I dropped my flashlight and broke it and just heard screeching and couldn't see anything and—"

Dev broke off. Felix could see her shivering, even though it was an average day and they were warmed by the heat of the hot spring, but she pulled away from the hand Aaron tried putting on her shoulder.

"I tried getting over it myself, a few years later," she continued softly. "Someone in Kanto gave me a Charmander while I was on a research trip with my dad. I thought the fire on her tail would always be enough to light the way. So I went into that tunnel created by Diglett and Dugtrio, but partway through, we were attacked. There was no way Ziva could handle it. She nearly fainted, and her tail flame became so dim I could barely see it. I got lucky—my dad found me." She let out a humourless laugh. "That was over ten years ago. I hadn't set foot in another cave until today. And when Eridan got knocked out and his flames went out, I panicked. Felt like I was five years old again."

She fell silent for a moment, then snorted. "Some sob story, huh?"

"Not one of more tear-jerking ones I've heard," Felix replied lightly. Dev didn't look at him, but she didn't seem upset by the comment, either. Instead, she looked at Aaron suddenly.

"Alright, spill. What about you? What made you wanna get out of there so badly all of a sudden?"

"Wh-What?" Aaron gave her a shocked look. "Is this just to take the heat off of you?"

Dev smiled wryly. "A little bit, yeah," she replied honestly. "But you really worried me, too."

The Ranger gave her a strange look, like he wasn't used to anyone saying something like that, let alone mean it. He relented, though, at least a little. "The Electrode was dead," he said quietly, to the point. "It just…left an empty husk behind. Moves like Explosion and Self-destruct don't exactly make the Pokémon itself explode. They sort of supercharge all the energy around the Pokémon and force all that energy outward at a really high speed. I don't really know the specifics of it. But the Pokémon gets caught up in the explosion of energy and faints, every time, no matter how strong or healthy it is. Sometimes, though, if it’s really old, or too weak, or just barely alive…"

He trailed away, but didn't need to say any more. Felix got the sense he wouldn't forget the sight of the Electrode, not for a long time, if ever. None of them said anything for a while, not in the wake of stories like the ones these two teenagers had just told. There was nothing _to_ say.

But there was also a sort of understanding, that shit happened and people had to move on. Felix liked to think it helped the two, to have friends nearby—even ones you didn't actually know all that well yet—that you somehow knew would be there for you if you needed them. And, oddly enough, that was how Felix felt about Devin and Aaron. Despite having known them for a paltry twenty-four hours, if even that, he knew he'd come running if either of them called. 

He wondered if they felt the same way. 

\-- * --

Felix didn't intend to stay in Lavaridge Town for long. Though he was loathe to take advice from Natalie of all people, a woman he considered a competitor for knowledge (because in all honesty, he wasn't a fan of someone knowing more than he did in his field, even if he did realize on some level that it was inevitable and unavoidable), he also had no other leads. Unless he wanted to go to Snowpoint City in Sinnoh, but he already knew he'd find nothing relevant there. It was only about two in the afternoon by the time they were drying off their feet, far too early to consider setting up camp here. They could easily make it to Fallarbor Town before dark, even the base of Meteor Falls to set up camp. They wouldn't explore it tonight, though. Hell, there might not even be a 'they'. He had an inkling Dev wouldn't be so eager to dive right into another cave, and Aaron hadn't said what he was going to do now that he'd finished his job here. Perhaps it didn't need saying.

"Taking Nat's advice, then?" Dev asked with a smug look as they left the Pokémon Center after their break. Felix, very maturely, stuck out his tongue at her.

"Would you rather take a field trip to Snowpoint City?"

"Mm, maybe not," she conceded. "They don't sell cheese fries there, so how are you ever going to pay me back in a timely manner? Besides, all the Butterfree and Beautifly and all the others are still under my care here."

Aaron suddenly made a strange noise, drawing their attention. "Dev, your letter! I completely forgot about it!" he moaned. "I'm really, really sorry! I can go now and—"

"Noooo, nonono. You're staying right here with us," Dev insisted, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "It's not a big deal, he doesn't expect to hear much from me anyway. There are only so many ways to say, 'Hi Dad, I'm fine, Ab's fine, Ava's still moody as hell, love you, see you eventually.' Don't worry about it."

The Ranger, however, appeared to be doing the exact opposite of that, eliciting a sigh from the young woman. "Look, I'll go try phoning him right now if it'll make you feel better. Be back in a minute." With that, she dropped her bag, turned on her heel, and walked back into the hospital. The two males looked after her briefly before Felix turned towards Aaron.

"You're going back to base, aren't you? Or out on patrol?" he asked, thinking he knew the answer. The archaeologist was, however, surprised.

Aaron replied after a momentary pause, "I don't think so. Today, coming across that Electrode…I can't help but wonder if I could have helped it, if I'd been there sooner, right with you two."

"Aaron, it would have _blown you up_ ," Felix pointed out, then added more seriously, "Really, though, it had been sitting there for years. I'm amazed it didn’t die sooner, to be honest. I hate to say it, but it was beyond help."  
Aaron looked ready to argue for a moment, ready to say that no Pokémon was beyond help, but stopped himself and looked at his shoes. "Yeah…yeah, I know. But still." He met Felix's blue gaze. "You and Dev are getting into something dangerous, aren't you?"

Felix saw no point in lying, so nodded. "And that was just an abandoned secret base. You never really know what to expect on these kinds of jobs. My team is really half the reason I'm still alive."

"And the other half?"

The older male grinned. "I'm awesome, obviously."

"O Great and Powerful Felix, 'tis an honour to be graced by your presence," Devin said sarcastically as she rejoined them. "T'would be a privilege to grovel at your feet."

"Alright then, let's see you grovel."

Aaron rolled his eyes at the exchange. "Try to stay civilized while I'm gone, alright? Or at least legal." He, too, turned into the building, causing Dev to raise a brow.

"They're never gonna let us back in if we keep making a bunch of free calls. What's up?" she asked.

"I'm not entirely sure what he's going to say, but it sounds like he wants to stay with us," Felix replied.

That surprised the redhead. "Really? I wonder how he's gonna pull that one off." She thought about it for a moment. "Can Oz carry more than two?"

"No, but Aaron's got his Flygon. Besides, what makes you so sure he'll get permission to tag along?"

Dev shrugged. "He doesn't seem like the sort of person who asks for favours very often, so when he does, it's hard to say no."

"Hm."

They waited in silence until Aaron returned from his call, successful. "I've only got four days, though," he warned. "After that, I'm back on patrol."

"That's great!" Dev exclaimed, apparently ignoring the time limit. She just seemed glad he was tagging along.  
"A lot can happen in four days," Felix mused, then shrugged. "Or nothing at all. Guess we'll have to see for ourselves. Are you two _finally_ ready to go?"

Aaron tossed out a Pokéball in front of them, releasing Flavia in a flash of red. "Just waiting on you two," he said with a smile.


	12. Nothing at All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Juuuust so y'all know, we're about halfway now! Actually we were probably halfway a few chapters ago, but I'm sort of making this up as I go, kinda. Actually ignore that, I have no idea where I am. More plotty stuff will happen soon. Actually, there's plotty stuff going on already, but anyway. Read and review, yo.
> 
> ACTUALLY WAIT. Some more info: Generation VI will make an appearance! A relatively small one. It wasn't going to make it into this fic at all, but I fell in love with it really fast after XY came out, and Felix has been insisting on a particular Pokémon, so it'll come into play soon. Not a big thing, but y'know, I'm too nice. I give in too easily to requests.
> 
> Anyhow, I've taken up enough of your time. Read on!

Their campsite, which looked rather similar to their first one outside Slateport City, was situated about forty feet away from the entrance to Meteor Falls. As it was only late summer at this time, though six o'clock had come and gone, the sun was still reasonably high over the horizon. By rights, they should have gotten here earlier, what with Flavia very effectively keeping Oz and his distracted drifting in check, but it was their "brief" stop in Fallarbor Town that really slowed them down. It was the first they had ever heard of a Fossil Maniac living nearby, a fact they learned from a local, and Felix had insisted on going to talk with him.

"Look, it's not my fault he wanted something for something. Isn't that the way the world generally works?" Felix asked while they were setting up their tents against a rock face.

"Felix, I think there's a general understanding that when someone asks to see a rare Pokémon, they aren't referring to a massive hulking thing that immediately destroys their fucking _house_ ," Dev replied, though there was no venom in her voice. She was trying not to let on that she found the whole thing hilarious, in a dark sort of way. She was failing miserably.

"He was provoked!" the young man insisted.

"By underwear flapping on a clothesline."

"Look, anyone who wears bright red underpants obviously can't be trusted. Even Krunch understands that, don't you, boy?"

The Bastiodon in question, who was lying about nearby, grumbled his assent. Aaron eyed him warily.

"He's not gonna trample our tent in the middle of the night, is he?" he asked uneasily. He would have liked to say he wasn't a little afraid of that actually happening, but then he'd be lying.

"Nah, we're fine," the other replied. "Only Devin has to worry."

Dev frowned at him, then told Krunch sternly, "If you come anywhere near my tent, I'll set Ziva and her Overheat on you."

Krunch merely grumbled again, though it didn't seem to instil confidence in the redhead. Even so, she continued, "Did you at least learn anything of interest from the guy?"

"Not much," Felix admitted. "Meteor Falls isn't a good place to find fossils; nothing much to preserve anything that dies there. Didn't stop him from trying, just prevents him from actually finding anything. Still, he doesn’t really know any lore about this place. Hell, no one seems to. The only reason anyone comes through here is to get to Rustboro on foot—which, by the way, is easy as hell—or go way deep to an island crawling with Bagon. So unless you're looking to train up a Salamence, there's not much reason to explore the falls."

Aaron tilted his head thoughtfully. "But doesn't that just mean there are more unexplored places to find?"  
The archaeologist grinned. "Exactly."

\-- * --

The next morning, as they were dining on scrambled eggs and toast, Aaron finally popped the question he suspected hadn't just been on his mind for the past little while. "Are you coming in with us, Dev?"

"Mmph." Felix began making noises past the food in his mouth and waving his hand around to catch their attention, and with some effort swallowed the mouthful. "Before you answer, Dev," he said somewhat breathlessly, "you should know that Meteor Falls is a bit weird. The caverns are made of some kind of bright, reflective stone, and there are holes in the ceiling in a bunch of places. During the day, light reflects all around the caves, lighting up the whole place."

"And when the sun goes down, they're just as dark as any other cave," she pointed out.

He shrugged. "You have Eridan. And the walls won't explode this time. Probably. No promises, though. Besides, we shouldn’t be in there that long."

Dev snorted. "It's not that easy, Felix. You don't just get over something like this. Every time I've stepped foot in a cave, I've nearly died, or thought I was going to."

"Then why did you follow me in yesterday?" he asked.

She scuffed the ground with her shoe. "Because I'm older. Braver. I thought I'd grown up. But I was wrong. I'm still just a kid, terrified and alone."

"You're not alone," Aaron said suddenly, drawing her green gaze to him. He smiled a little. "Well, you're not! We won't split up or anything, I promise."

"'Promise' is a strong word…" Felix began, but grinned at the two differing looks the others gave him. "But yeah, we promise. Just don't slow us down."

Dev threw the last of her toast crust at him. "Try to keep up. And for that, you get to do the dishes."

"Wh—hey, no, that's not fair, I did them last night!"

"Although that was decided after a wisecrack, too, to be fair," Aaron murmured with a grin before wandering away to start packing up the tent, leaving Felix to moan and groan over his chore.

\-- * --

The sun was high enough to light the caverns by the time the tents were packed, the fire put out, and the dishes grudgingly washed, dried, and put away. At least it was a good time of year to explore, Felix pointed out as they entered Meteor Falls. The sun wouldn't set for ages. Plenty of time to get in an out. The 'probably' was implied. Aaron could tell this was of little comfort to the redhead walking beside him, but wasn't quite sure what else he could say.

The first chamber was large and, quite honestly, fascinating, Aaron noted as they walked through the main entrance to the falls. Light spilled in through large gaps in the ceiling, the clear blue sky reflecting off of glittering pools of water beneath these holes. The caverns were made of a sandy-coloured stone of some kind that reflected light easily, making it extremely easy to see everything around them, including the branching path before them. They could either go left, along a path obviously well-travelled, or straight, notably less so. It came as no surprise that Felix, who was leading the way, continued straight, up some rough steps and onto the next level, where a new cavern loomed before them.

What was surprising was that this new cavern was already a dead end.

Dev clapped her hands together. "Well, this was a fun little outing! Time to go."

"Ha, ha," Felix said sarcastically as he moved around the room, running his hands along the walls. "What the hell is the point in a dead end so close to the entrance?"

"Decoy?" Aaron suggested, keeping a close eye on Skylord as he sniffed around himself. He still couldn't get the image of that Electrode out of his mind, its red and white skin turned a sandy brown by the explosion and its subsequent death, leaving nothing but an empty husk behind that began crumbling into dust right before his eyes—

A sudden shaking of his shoulder snapped Aaron out of his reverie, and he became aware of someone calling his name. As his eyes refocused, Dev and Felix's worried faces came into view, and he barely caught himself from stumbling backwards.

"I, uh—sorry, I'm fine," he said quickly, trying and failing to force a smile onto his face. He didn't blame them for not believing him; it showed all over their faces. He sighed. "Look, don't worry about me. I'm okay. Really."

That still didn't fly, but the others seemed to kind of understand, so Felix turned back to finish his examination of the walls. Dev moved back to his side, but he was surprised when he felt her hand suddenly slip into his, twining their fingers together. Aaron looked at her, a little surprised, and received a soft smile in return. He gently squeezed her hand in silent thanks. Somehow, just her being there made him feel better.

A frustrated groan filled the small chamber. "This is _dumb_! Someone was fucking around when they knocked out an entrance into this place, 'cause that's obviously manmade," Felix said, jabbing a finger at the entranceway.

"Yeah, _obviously_ ," Dev muttered under her breath, drawing a chuckle from Aaron.

Felix didn't seem to notice them. "Who makes an entrance to nowhere?! What kind of sick, sadistic bastard would do that? Who authorized this bullshit? I demand to see your supervisor!"

"Alright, I think that's enough," Dev finally said, moving forward to grab Felix's hand and then dragging the two males out of the room, the archaeologist still spouting off insults directed at anyone who had a hand in hollowing out and unearthing the caves of Meteor Falls. 

\-- * --

"How can there be _nothing_ here?"

Aaron watched as Felix kicked at the water at their feet, obviously annoyed that all this seemed to have been for nothing. They'd been combing the falls for hours now with nothing to show for it. No hints, no clues, no explosions, _nothing_. They didn't even spray any Repel after a while at Felix's insistence, although that quickly proved to be more trouble than it was worth. Despite its brightness, it was still a cave, and there were still Zubats _everywhere_. They got lost more times than they could count and weren't even sure how they'd gotten to their current location, but according to Felix, "Getting lost while you're out adventuring is the best way to find whatever you weren't looking for."

Devin quietly confided to Aaron that she thought that was bullshit. Aaron figured it was an excuse he'd fabricated over the years. It seemed like Felix had a penchant for getting lost.

All of this had led them to this place, a chamber with a massive hole in the roof and an ever bigger hole below filled with water. As with the other pools they'd come across, Chomper was currently exploring its depths, but their hopes weren't high. There was a smallish island at the other end of the water; Felix had already swam there and back (as he really didn't trust Chomper to not try drowning him) and confirmed it was the infamous Bagon Island, but that was all. No hidden switches, no concealed entrances, no secret panels. Just a bunch of the bite Pokémon. 

Visibly frustrated, Felix kicked a stone into the small lake. Without warning, something large and blue and full of teeth burst out of the water with a snarl, it massive jaws snapping at Felix's foot. He gave a yell and fell backwards onto the ground, automatically scooting away from his attacker. Aaron and Dev, by this point, had practically fallen over themselves laughing. Now halfway out of the water, the Feraligatr seemed to be rather pleased with himself for startling his trainer so badly.

"You're an ass," Felix spat at Chomper, picking himself up off the ground. He turned towards the other two and snapped, "Don't encourage him, he's already bad enough!"

With that, he whirled around and stomped off, which caused Aaron and Dev's laughter to taper off fairly quickly, though both were still smiling. 

"Think one of us should…?" Dev asked, waving her hand in a vague gesture after a few minutes had passed.  
Aaron cleared his throat slightly. "Yeah, probably. I'll go. C'mon, Sky," he said before turning and starting off after Felix, Skylord dogging at his heels.

The Ranger figured the archaeologist couldn't have gotten far, but just outside the entranceway of the cavern they'd been in, the path split off in two opposite directions. He tried looking in the dust and dirt on the ground for footprints, but there were already so many from their little party passing through earlier. He couldn't discern any fresh prints, and he couldn't even tell which ones were his, let alone Felix's. Aaron stood there and frowned at the ground for a moment, thinking, then spotted Skylord standing next to him, waiting patiently. 

"Hey! Sky, can you tell where Felix went? Sniff out his trail?" Aaron asked. The Poochyena barked in return, then began sniffing about until he started wandering away from the Ranger and to the right—the opposite of the way he was pretty sure they'd come from. Aaron didn't think they'd gone down that way yet, so Sky was likely on the right track. He began following the doglike Pokémon at a job, hoping to catch up to Felix before he'd gone too far.  
But the farther they went from the island area, through the twists and turns and branches of this new area, the more concerned Aaron grew. Surely Felix couldn't have come this far in such a short time at walking pace. He trusted Skylord's nose…so where was the scent's owner?

A sudden yelp drew Aaron back to the present, and he was on his knees beside the Poochyena before he'd even fully registered what was going on. All he'd seen was that Skylord had stopped and seemed pained, and that had been enough. Now he saw that Sky was pawing desperately at his nose and sneezing in between whimpers. Mentally, Aaron was kicking himself as he tried soothing Skylord. He didn't have any sort of healing kit or items on him; they were all in his backpack, which was currently with Dev. He tried rubbing whatever it was off of Sky's nose with his thumb, but it was no use; he'd already inhaled whatever it was that was on the ground. As Aaron spoke soothingly to the Poochyena, he returned him to his Pokéball, then looked around where he was kneeling. There was a purplish powder scattered about from wall to wall of the corridor, and it was now all over his pants. It didn't seem to hurt his bare skin, but obviously it was something extremely unpleasant to inhale, at least. Aaron didn't want to leave it all there to harm any other Pokémon, but right now, he didn't have much choice; the best thing to do with it was probably burn it, but he lacked a Fire-type. The only one he knew with a Pokémon like that was Devin. First thing's first, though: he had to get back to his bag to heal Skylord. Then he could tell Dev about this powder, bring her back here to deal with it…and on top of everything, he hadn't found Felix, either, which was incredibly unusual.

Aaron got to his feet and stood there for a few moments, undecided, then turned abruptly and sprinted back the way he'd come, hoping against hope that he wouldn't get lost without Skylord to guide him.

Apparently, luck was at least partly on his side today. He managed to find his way back to Devin in record time, out of breath but glad that at least he hadn't gotten hopelessly lost. The aforementioned redhead seemed to immediately realize something was wrong, judging by her expression and lack of greeting.

"What's wrong?" she asked. As he tried to catch his breath, Aaron let out Skylord, who still appeared to be in discomfort. He wouldn't stop pawing at his nose.

"He inhaled something," Aaron said between breaths. "Powder all over the ground. Couldn't find Felix."

"One thing at a time, love. Felix can take care of himself." Dev knelt down to look at Skylord better. "You mentioned a strange powder on the ground?"

"Yeah," the Ranger replied, his breathing starting to return to normal. "He started whimpering after he got some up his nose. Weird purple powder."

Dev looked up at him. "What, like Poison Powder?"

Aaron stared at her. Of course! How could he be so stupid? That would explain why Skylord reacted to badly to the stuff; he hadn't even liked smelling traces of it on Devin's hand when they'd first met. He quickly crossed over to his bag to dig out an antidote, moving Felix's bag slightly as he did so.

Suddenly, a comment Dev made just a few moments earlier clicked, and Aaron froze just as he was drawing out the medicine. Dev noticed his abrupt lack of movement and asked, "Aaron?"

"Remember how you said Felix could take care of himself, even if he's lost?" Aaron asked slowly.

"Yeah…?"

He moved away slightly to reveal Felix's bag sitting next to his, where he had stowed most of his stuff while he'd gone swimming out to Bagon Island. "How is he supposed to do that if he doesn't have any of his Pokémon on him?"


	13. Hello, Goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y e a h I don't really have an excuses or anything other than I was busy and such so please read on, and if you've been following this for a while, thanks for sticking around!

To say Felix was pissed off when he stomped away from his party would be something of an understatement.  
He knew Meteor Falls would be a long shot; the information, after all, had come from Natalie. It wasn't like he expected the answers to this mystery to just fall into his lap, and he always had to prepare himself for the possibility that he could be spending months on this case—if it could be solved at all.

Yet he found himself wanting to immediately find things, demonstrate just how intelligent he really was. It wasn't something he often go to do right in front of other people. Felix loved the path he'd chosen, loved the ruins and artifacts and fossils and mysteries, but honestly, he also liked the attention it gave him, sometimes. He liked impressing people. But this case, moreso than many of the others, felt like a wild Ducklett chase, partly because someone was actively covering up the events in Sootopolis City eight years prior. And of course it'd be the one case where he had spectators.

His stupid frustration with not finding a single clue, the unexpected sting that came with Chomper's prank and Devin and Aaron's accompanying laughter…it all just boiled over. He'd stomped off, angered and irritated and didn't pay any mind to where he was going. So when he'd finally started to calm down, finally began to consider returning and apologizing for his overreaction, and looked up, Felix realized he hadn't a goddamn clue as to where he was.

Great.

At least the labyrinth he'd gotten himself lost in continued to be well-lit. There were small openings dotted here and there high above on the ceiling that let in the sunlight. According to his watch, it was quarter to one—plenty of time to find his way out. Admittedly, his track record with figuring out where he was in a timely manner wasn't fantastic, but he generally didn't have people looking for him, either. Surely Aaron and Dev would eventually realize he'd lost his way and come looking for him. Maybe. Probably.

Felix sighed, then tipped his head back to look upwards. Oz. Oz could fit through one of those holes, surely. He could float above the falls, look down into the other holes, search for the others that way.

The archaeologist only really became concerned for himself when he reached for his belt and the Pokéballs attached to it only to find his hand closing around air. He'd left everything back in the cavern, he realized. His backpack, his clothes, and, most importantly, his Pokémon.

Well, shit.

He'd sprayed a max repel on himself just before going in the water, but he knew it wouldn't last much longer. Felix supposed he was just lucky repels were waterproof. So now he had a decision to make: stay where he was and hope the others found him quickly, or take his chances and keep moving to find his way out of this bloody labyrinth.  
It didn't take him long to decide to fuck it and just keep moving. He wasn't going to get anywhere by just sitting around waiting to be found. He never had before, and he wasn't about to start now.

He had to admit, though, being lost was a lot more bearable when he had Pokémon to back him up. And shoes. It didn't take him long to start missing shoes. Repels, too. Felix had a good idea of when his wore off, but he got lucky and didn't encounter anything for awhile. It was too bright out right now for any Zubat to bother him. Instead, he found himself plagued by Solrock, which, while slower and less poisonous than Zubat, let off an intense heat and were completely silent. It just made getting ambushed by them all the easier (and creepier).

As a result, a dead end was not a particularly nice thing for a hot, tired, starving archaeologist to encounter. Felix stopped just a foot in front of the wall and stared at it for a solid minute before tipping forward and smacking his head against the rock face.

"Dammit," he breathed.

"Giving up already, McCloud?"

Felix whirled around, his eyes scanning the empty corridor he'd just come down. "I'd love to be cliché and ask 'Who's there'," he said, "but we both know that'd be pointless, seeing as how you wouldn't answer and I already know who you are."

"Is that so?" The voice laughed, or at least Felix assumed that's what the strange, other-worldly sound was. The voice itself was warped and echoed more than it should have, considering the numerous holes in the ceiling. 

"Of course," Felix replied with a confidence he didn't feel. He couldn't even tell whether the speaker was male, female, or something in between, let alone identify who they were. The strange noise from before sounded again; so much for his bluff.

"Give it up, McCloud. Your ability to lie is almost as bad as your archaeological prowess."

Felix's half-smile vanished at that, and he felt his hands tighten into fists. "Ooh, touch a nerve there, did I?" the voice laughed. "You know that only happens when you hear someone telling a truth about you that you don't want to hear, right? Which, as we both know, it is. You've been chasing your tail for days, going after leads you knew were dead ends. Even Devin and Aaron are getting tired of it; they're bound to leave any day now, and who could blame—"

"Shut UP!" Felix roared, how own voice echoing off the cavern walls and drowning out the other. All of a sudden, the atmosphere around him shifted drastically. The corridor was plunged into darkness as the sunlight was suddenly blocked out; the shadow Felix had been casting spread out over the floor and up the walls, making it appear even darker. A blast of wind issued from somewhere down the corridor and slammed into him. Something in the wind began stinging his skin and leaving it feeling slightly numb, forcing him to bring an arm up to shield his eyes from the assault.

"Big words for a defenseless man," the voice said icily. "Forget Sootopolis. Forget the Event. Go home, Felix. Go running back with your tail between your legs and keep robbing graves. It's all you're good for, anyway."

He never got a chance to retort—which perhaps was just as well, considering he couldn't come up with anything. His only split-second warning was suddenly feeling a presence behind him. After that, there was a flash of pain on the back of his head, a burst of white before his eyes, and then nothing. 

\-- * --

The swaying motion Felix awoke to would have normally been kind of soothing if it wasn't for the fact that it felt like his stomach was doing backflips and his skull was split open. He couldn't even consider rolling onto his side; just the thought of added movement made him feel even more nauseous. Then again, the thought of drowning in in own vomit wasn't exactly an appealing notion either. Maybe whoever was carrying him would be kind enough to tip him over if it came to that.

Actually, come to think of it, who was carrying him?

It took Felix a while to muster up the energy to actually open his eyes and have a look at his transportation. He was greeted by the sight of the expressionless face of a Golurk looming above him. Perhaps 'expressionless' was the wrong word—somehow, the Pokémon looked worried. Felix's brow creased as he thought he recognized the Golurk's markings.

"…Lurch?" he ventured, frowning slightly at the guard Pokémon. The swaying stopped abruptly as Lurch halted and looked down at him. Maybe he wasn't as lucid as he'd thought; the golem actually seemed relieved.

"Felix, you stupid motherfucker!" a familiar voice burst out, causing him to turn his head towards the noise. "Do you have a fucking death wish?!"

"Dev, calm down," a different voice said gently. "At least let him wake up before you kill him."

Felix frowned slightly. "Why does this seem familiar?" he asked aloud. Aaron laughed slightly.

"Are near-death experiences a daily occurrence for you?" the Ranger asked.

"I generally try to limit them to once a week, but I hadn't had any for a while. So this week's making up for it."

"Oh good, he's kept his sense of humour," Devin said sarcastically. "Put him down, Lurch. If he can crack dumb jokes, he can walk."

"Hey, hey, I'm an invalid!" Felix protested. "You're morally obligated to find my jokes funny."

"Not when your stupidity is what put you in that situation in the first place," the redhead snapped, and with that, the atmosphere around the ground lost its levity. No one was smiling anymore.

Felix fought against his tiredness to struggle into a sitting position, intending to tell Dev exactly where she could put her opinion and attitude, but Aaron seemed to sense what was about to happen, for he headed off Felix by suggesting, "How about you both stop acting like twelve-year-olds and let Felix tell us what happened?"

Dev and Felix glared at each other for a moment before Felix made a very grown-up face at the girl. He then thought back on what had happened, but was annoyed to discover his memory of the incident was hazy at best. "I…I don't really remember a lot," he finally admitted after a long pause. "I ran into a dead end while trying to find my way back, and I was talking to someone."

Without meaning to, Felix tightened his hands into fists just at the thought of it, which suddenly reminded him of something else. "They told me to stop investigating what happened in Sootopolis eight years ago."

Aaron and Dev exchanged a look. "We found you unconscious not too far from the island full of Bagon," Aaron told him. "I followed you partway with Skylord, until he ran into some Poison Powder on the ground. But we found you down a different pathway from the one he and I took follow you, I'm sure of it. And it wasn't a dead end."

Felix frowned slightly, thinking, then abruptly exclaimed, "They moved me!"

"That's super creepy, man," Devin said, wrinkling her nose.

"The important thing is that you're okay," Aaron cut in again. "You'll probably have a nice headache for a while, though."

"Wonderful."

As their conversation began to devolve back into sarcasm and ridiculous comments, their group began moving forward again, Felix still hitching a ride on Lurch but relocating to his shoulder now. He had to resist the very strong urge to call the Golurk Treebeard.

Now that they were no longer following Felix, the trio found their way out of Meteor Falls with relative ease, albeit through a different exit. It wasn't far to the one leading back to Fallarbor, but they had an unspoken agreement to get the hell out of these caves as soon as possible. Naturally, it didn't quite work out the way any of them had hoped; they got out, certainly, but found themselves unable to go much farther, because people suck and life sucks. That was how Felix felt when they found themselves facing down five thugs just outside the entrance to the falls, anyway.

"Really?" Dev asked tiredly, after being told to hand over her Pokémon "or else". "We get through secret conspiracies and hidden volcano bases and attacks from the shadows, and you expect me to take you assholes seriously?"

Two of the men exchanged uncomfortable glances, like they'd never gotten this sort of attitude before. A third took a step forward, though, and growled, "You don't want any trouble, girlie, now do ya?"

"Well, since I have the option," Devin began, reaching behind her and grinning, "I really do."

Felix watched as she threw out three Pokéballs that had been attached to her waist, but squinted as he noticed something odd. From this height, it almost looked like she had way more Pokémon on her than was legal. Almost like…  
He sighed as a Cradily appeared in between an Umbreon and Charmeleon. He already knew Dev didn't have a Cradily on her team. She must have kept his team with her while they searched for him. But why did it have to be Jazz, of everyone on his team?

Oh well. Not much he could do from up here, and Aaron was down there with her, releasing his own Absol and Garchomp to join the fray. He just wished he had popcorn as he watched the fight play out like he'd predicted. The thugs were reasonably strong (or at least the Pokémon were), but it was painfully obvious the Pokémon weren't theirs, or weren't treated well. Devin and Aaron were far more in tune with their partners. People liked to scoff at the bond between some trainers and their Pokémon, but it did make a difference in battle.

The only one Dev didn't know at all was Jazz. To her credit, rather than swap her out for one of her own team, Dev rolled with it at first. It was obvious she quickly regretted this decision, as the Cradily did what she often did in double and triple battles: sit there and head-bang the whole time. She didn't have much drive to battle, and even less when there were other Pokémon on the field to attack the opponents. Dev was just lucky she hadn't called out Magnus as well, otherwise she'd have a spontaneous rave on her hands. 

Devin quickly learned from her mistake and swapped out Jazz for her own Beautifly, and both simultaneous battles went smoothly from that point onward. As thugs went, the group didn't have very many Pokémon between them, and were soon scattering in different directions, allowing them to pass. The whole situation did make Felix think, though, and once they reached the nearby Rustboro City, he declared he was going to go look at a bunch of rocks.  
"Well, you two have fun with that," Aaron said. "I'm going to go describe those guys to the police."

"Are you two seriously giving me a choice between talking to cops and looking at rocks?" Dev groaned.

"Yes," the two young men replied at the same time, not missing a beat.

Dev scowled at the both of them before sighing. "Fine, rocks it is. Meet back at the Center in an hour, alright?"

\-- * --

As it turned out, Devin made the right choice in going to Devon Corporation, even if it meant enduring jokes about her name.

"I thought you said this was for your 'archaeological studies' or whatever," Dev said to Felix as the receptionist gave them the go-ahead to proceed to the next floor. 

"Well I couldn't just say 'it's for science', now could I?" he replied as they started up the staircase. "Dev Corp. is all about inventing stuff, and one of those inventions revitalizes fossils. Plus, the head guy apparently has a cool rock collection, so there's that."

The pair had barely set foot on the second floor when there was a clattering noise in the corner of the room and a man shouting, "Security! SECURITY!"

"Is there anyone in this region you haven’t either tried to kill or nearly gotten killed by?" Dev muttered as Felix spun around on his heel to have a look at whoever was shouting, and a grin broke out across his face as he recognized who it was.

"Sherman!"

"Absolutely not!" the scientist practically screeched, pointing a finger directly at him. "I had to leave a perfectly good, comfortable job—"

"You said you hated Oreburgh, the winters were too cold—"

"—uproot my entire family—"

"Sherman, you lived alone in a rundown apartment, you kept complaining—"

"—and now you're following me around so I can revive some fossils you sent me anonymously because no one else will do it for you!"

"I—what?" That caught Felix off-guard, but he quickly stopped himself before voicing his confusion. He changed tack and held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, Sherman, you got me. I just knew you were good at your job, and you're one of the only people I trust to do something so important."

Sherman snorted. "Right! More like you want me to have to move again because I'm the only one who'll do your dirty work! Well how's this: I'm not giving them to you!"

Immediately, two nearby scientists made noises of outrage. "You can't withhold someone's Pokémon!" one of them said. "It's a violation of your contract!"

Sherman's jaw dropped open. "B-But, he – he," the man spluttered, and Felix did feel sorry for him. "He doesn't even have room for them!" he exclaimed triumphantly, pointing to the six spheres around the younger man's waist.

Felix brightened and removed one of the balls and held it out to the scientist, who flinched backwards. "I'll trade you, then. This is even one of the ones you revived." Sherman went white as a sheet at that, eliciting a laugh from Felix. "No, not Krunch. Jazz, the Lileep. Well, Cradily now. She's really chill. She just likes hanging out and fishing, not battling. I think she'll be happier with you."

The scientist eyed him suspiciously, then hesitantly took the ball from his hand. "And she won't destroy my house?" he asked warily. Felix shook his head, and Sherman seemed to relax slightly. "Fine. Here's one of them," he said, handing over an identical Pokéball. "Have a look at him outside, he's a terror in office spaces. What about the other one?"

Felix gestured over his shoulder at Devin, who had, to her credit, remained remarkably silent throughout this whole exchange. "Give it to her."

Dev started and stared at him. "What?"

He shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Oh, um," Dev stammered as she took the other Pokémon from Sherman. "I…well, thanks, Felix." 

"No problem." He grinned. "Thanks a bunch, Sherman. See you later."

The scientist shuddered as the pair turned away. "I sincerely hope not." 

\-- * --

As per Sherman's request, they didn't let the Pokémon out until they were outside, but Felix was over the moon when he realized what they had just received.

"Tyrunt and Amaura!" he exclaimed in delight when he saw them, crouching down so he was eye-level with his new Tyrunt. "They're really rare, even for fossils!"

"You seem surprised; didn't you know what they were when you found them?" Devin asked, though she already seemed enamoured with the pretty blue Pokémon before her. It, in turn, was nuzzling her hand. "Speaking of which, you never mentioned them to us. Where did you find them? And when?"

"Oh, I didn't," Felix said airily, waving his hand at her. "He assumed it was me, and I was curious, so I just went with it."

When Dev didn't say anything, he looked over to find she had an utterly dumbfounded expression on her face. "What? I saw the opportunity and I took it. Don't complain, you got a cool rare Pokémon out of it."

Felix straightened up and began walking back to the Pokémon Center, the Tyrunt at his side. "I think I'll call you Tiny," he told it, leaving Devin to re-evaluate her life choices.


	14. Relax, Relapse, Recap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhh my god it's been so fucking long since I updated despite Felix's nagging BUT HERE IT IS MOFOS A CHAPTER THAT'S KINDA NOT REALLY A CHAPTER BC IT'S MOSTLY RECAP BUT WHATEVER. ENJOY. Hopefully another one will follow fairly soon, and it'll be more interesting.  
> Fun fact: nearly lost this after Word decided to somehow delete itself from my computer and not let me access my documents properly. Shoutout to Natalie for figuring out a quick way to fix that.

With the newly revived fossil Pokémon in tow, Felix and Devin made their way to the Pokémon Center a little ways south of Devon Corporation, well before their allotted hour had elapsed, but were surprised when they were joined by Aaron not ten minutes later as they were lounging about just outside the doors.

"How'd it go?" Dev asked. 

"They're a group that are known to police," Aaron replied, plopping down on the grass next to his companions. "They sent out a few people to keep an eye on the city's main entrances, since they'll probably come by soon to heal their Pokémon."

"Ooh, so they might come here?" she said eagerly, a gleam in her eyes. "I love double battles, they're so much fun."

"That was a triple earlier," Felix pointed out. Devin shrugged.

"I take what I can get."

"Speaking of getting," Aaron piped up, holding a hand out to the Amaura who was looking at him curiously, "who's this?"

"Her name's Amoria," the redhead answered. "Felix stole her from a scientist at Dev Corp."

Felix made a noise of protest at that. "Hey, hey, I did not steal anyone. I gave him Jazz, who's an evolved fossil Pokémon and a perfectly fair trade for Amoria and—Tiny, no! Bad Tiny!"

Devin snorted in amusement as Felix abruptly tore off after his energetic little Tyrunt, who was currently snapping at the legs of a young man dressed in a white shirt and brown slacks. At the questioning look Aaron gave her, she explained, "He's been trying to teach him to fetch a stick. At least he has the colour down."

As the pair watched Felix trying to retrieve his wayward Pokémon ("Bad Tiny! We do not fetch people!"), Aaron quietly asked, "So what's next?"

Devin was silent for a moment, then finally said, "I don't really know. I haven't asked. I don't even know if he's thought about it yet. He's not going to stop, though, I don't think."

"What about you, though?"

Devin looked at him in surprise. "What about me?"

The raven-haired teen looked uncomfortable all of a sudden. "I, uh…just…have you been having any second thoughts? About sticking around? It might be dangerous." He frowned. "No, I think it _will_ be dangerous."

"No, not at all." A beat. "Have you?"

Aaron started playing with a blade of grass without plucking it from the ground. "I'd be lying if I said no…but I'm not gonna act on it, you know? Of course that kind of thought crosses your mind, but it's one of those ones you just dismiss. I'm finally allowed to actually stick with you guys, I'm not going anywhere."

"You sure about that?" 

Her tone was so serious that Aaron gave her a fearful look, only to find a gentle smile on his friend's face that had the strange effect of immediately quelling his fears—about this and admitting the thought of abandoning ship had crossed his mind, unwarranted as it was. He felt much better by the time Felix returned to them, looking somewhat frazzled but triumphant, since the Tyrunt was by his side.

"So I'd suggest hiding anything brown from this guy for a little while," he said as he sat down again, lying back on the grass. "My head hurts."

"That's nice," Dev replied, poking at his foot with her own. "What's the plan?"

"What plan?"

"The plan plan. You know, for giving the middle finger to the asshole who told you to walk away."

"Oh, that plan." Felix shrugged, a motion that looked very odd from a person lying flat on his back. "Don't have one. Do I ever have one?"

"Felix, we've known you for, like, two days."

"Right, right. Well, see, the thing is, my plans have never really worked, so to speak, so I'm trying out a new thing where I don't plan anything out and just wing it all the way." He lifted himself up onto his elbows to grin at them. "Still wanna tag along?"

Briefly, Devin wondered if Felix had heard them talking earlier, but immediately replied, "Fuck yeah I do, what better way to vent Avalynn's frustration than tag along with you and beat up random thugs?"  
Aaron smiled at that and added, "I still have three more days with you guys, I'm not giving that up easily."

Felix honestly seemed touched by his friends' sentiments, and sat up fully, ignoring the stab of pain at the back of his head. "Alright then," he said with a grin. "Let's go over what we know."

He scooted over to his backpack and pulled out a notepad. "Eight years ago, some shit went down in or around Sootopolis City, shit that no one wants to—or can—talk about. The only reason I know about it is because of whoever hired me to find out what happened, for whatever reason." He held up a hand as he saw Aaron open his mouth. "Hang on, lemme finish. So far as I can tell, there's no evidence of anything unusual in the city itself. Granted, I can't breathe underwater and can't afford diving gear, so I'm not really able to get a good look at the rock formations, so maybe there is something inaccessible there. Origin Cave would have been amazing to be able to look at, but since its entrance collapsed about five or six years ago, they're paranoid about the rest of it collapsing and won't let anyone in. Not that they ever did before, but that's beyond the point. The Sootopolis Library wasn't very useful except vague mentions of sudden erratic changes in weather on a few particular days: January 27th, 1995, and May 2nd, 2005. This was backed up in the old atlases we found in the Slateport Library. There, we also found a handwritten note that said, 'There are thee Pokémon involved, making the term "Weather Trio" appropriate.' In the museum, we found an ice core from Snowpoint City with dated ash plumes of volcanoes, mostly from the nearby Stark Mountain, but two layers had ashfall that was identified as being from Mt. Chimney. That's quite a distance to travel, so the volcano's activity at that time would have to be pretty intense for it to reach Sinnoh. Mt. Chimney's usually not that active—it has lava near the surface, but it hardly ever erupts since people have Pokémon keep the lava loose so it doesn't plug up the volcano and cause a violent eruption. Its ash is usually restricted to the area directly around the volcano, namely in and near Fallarbor Town. The event in Sootopolis that we're researching supposedly happened in the same year and around the same time as the second occurrence of ashfall in Snowpoint, so I'm willing to bet they're related somehow. There was a secret abandoned Team Magma base in the Jagged Pass near Lavaridge that we didn't get to explore, but I'm not sure if it's related to anything or not. If there was anything about Groudon there, Natalie would have mentioned it, I'm sure. She'd have been talking nonstop about it. But I think Groudon may tie into this somehow. I just don't know how or how much—I actually don't know much about him. Fallarbor was a bust, Meteor Cave was basically a bust except I nearly died and we found out there's someone who apparently doesn't want us to figure out what's going on, is trying to use scare tactics to that effect, and apparently doesn't know me very well."

Felix looked towards Aaron after he had concluded. "Please always hold your questions until after I'm done explaining, they'll often be answered later on in the lesson. Also raise your hand; no talking out of turn in my class."

Devin waved her hand around and whined, "Can I go to the bathroom?"

"No. Aaron?"

"No thanks—wait, no, that wasn't what I was gonna ask," he said quickly, amidst Dev's giggling and Felix's grin. "Shush, you two. Do you know who hired you, Felix?"

He shrugged in response. "Nah, but that's not entirely unusual. Rich people are weird. Some like to be mysterious and shit by never showing their faces to the public. Or something. It's not the first time I haven't known who I've been working for. I don't really mind as long as I get paid on time." Seeing Aaron frown, he added, "With those ones, though, I never send them information or artifacts that I think could be dangerous. Not that a lot of what I find is, really, but you never know. I'll sometimes send supposedly cursed objects, though, at their request, if I don’t think they're really cursed."

"What, you believe in that sort of stuff?" Dev asked, slightly surprised. "I didn't think you would."

"Why not? There's a lot of stuff out there we can't explain, and some we can that's weird as hell. Why can I fit a Bastiodon into a little hollow sphere? How can I have an ancient, extinct Pokémon in my possession at all, let alone two?" Felix shrugged again. "Some stuff's made up for tourists, but it's easy to believe in curses when you're at the bottom of a tomb and surrounded by Cofragigus because you didn't follow the instructions to not push the button."

Dev gave him a partly curious, partly suspicious look, but didn't press the issue. "Alright then. So now that we're all totally up to speed and everything, I propose we find Natalie again."

"Absolutely not," Felix said immediately. "She's not worth it. I'd rather do this on my own."

"Okay, first of all, Aaron and I are sitting right here," Dev replied flatly. "Second, what the hell is your problem with Natalie? You intimidated by strong women?"

"No! I mean—yes…?" Felix looked to Aaron for help. "What's the right answer here?"

"Possibly silence," Aaron replied with a slight smile. "Really, though, what's wrong with Natalie? She seemed nice enough."

The archaeologist dragged a hand down his face. "She…is? Sometimes? I guess? But she's really frustrating to even attempt to work with, when she's not stabbing you in the back for a find that she's interested in. We ran into her in a place she's been exploring probably for months, but somewhere new and intriguing…she's a nightmare. Just trust me on this, okay? No Natalie."

"So no leads, then," Dev interjected. "Seriously. Unless you want to hit up all the landmarks in Hoenn, where you probably won’t find anything, and then go combing through the entire region over the course of however many months in the hopes of finding something." 

To her credit, she did quail slightly at Felix's glare. "What? Do you have any better ideas?"

Felix opened his mouth, only to close it a moment later. "Not really," he groused. He did seem to perk up slightly a moment later when he added, "We don't even know where to find her, though. I doubt she's still near Lavaridge."

"Damn. Knew we should have exchanged numbers when we had the chance," Dev muttered. A little louder she added, "Well, do you know any places with any connection to Groudon?"

Felix frowned slightly in thought. "Not really?" he admitted, seeming somewhat unsure of himself. "Legendaries were always her thing, and some ruins and stuff I explored had connections to some of them, but not all. Actually, most aren't. That was my first time encountering her in Hoenn."

"Do you think there'd be anything in the library here about Groudon in particular?" Aaron asked. "It might be a little easier to find something if we have something more specific that we're looking for."

Dev groaned. "God, not another library."

"Hey man, this is what you signed up for. I even warned you," Felix said. "C'mon, we may as well get a good start if we're going through with this."


	15. Pieces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: This fic only treats the plotlines of certain games as canon: Emerald HeartGold/SoulSilver, Platinum, and Black/White. X/Y movesets, abilities, items, and Pokémon are what are considered to be current, since this all takes place in 2013 when the idea was first conceived, but the storyline from XY will be ignored due to the differences in those games' plotlines. HGSS and BW are easy to gloss over, as it wasn't an issue in the former and the roles were simply reversed in the latter, but I would have to pick and choose which canon to use from XY, which would be jarring for some people. It's the same reason I'm only using Emerald and Platinum, since they basically combine the other two games of their trios. Similarly, ORAS will be almost entirely ignored, save a few little things here and there.  
> Sorry if this seems a bit rushed and like things are moving forward too fast. :c

As it turned out, strangely enough, they didn't even need a good start to investigate the library. Just after walking through the doors, they heard a noise of excitement to their right, and turned to see a young woman waving her hand around. "Devin!" she said excitedly, getting up from the armchair she'd been curled up in. 

Dev grinned as she strode over to Natalie and held up her hand for a high five, which Natalie returned without hesitation. They both ignored the "shh!" and glare they got from another nearby patron. Still, Dev greeted her in muted tones. "What's up, man? What're you doing here?"

"Reading, what else?" Nat smiled over at her friend's companions. "Hey Felix, aaaand…Aaron, right?"

Aaron nodded, but Felix just stood there looking both dumbfounded and annoyed. "What are you doing here?" he asked, to which Natalie rolled her eyes.

"Uh, I just answered that? Thanks for listening, jeez."

"No, I mean here in Rustboro." He scowled at her. "Are you following us?"

Natalie lifted a brow. "Are any of you Groudon in disguise? No? Then I'm not interested. Then again…" She slung an arm around Dev's shoulders and leaned against her.

Felix rolled his eyes as Devin made a show of putting her arm around the other girl's waist and pulling her closer. "Alright, well, whenever you two are done, we'll see you outside." With that, he turned around and walked right back out the door, Aaron following him a moment later when he looked questioningly at Dev and she motioned for him to follow.

As it turned out, they ended up waiting nearly five minutes for the two girls to rejoin them. Once ascertaining that Devin hadn't asked Natalie any questions pertaining to their quest yet, Felix (somewhat begrudgingly, it seemed to Aaron) brought the fanatic up to speed on what they were investigating, what they had found out so far, and how they were wondering if Groudon had any ties to it. Aaron noted he left out a few things, though, like the attack in Meteor Falls, but made no comment on it. Devin either didn’t notice or didn’t think it pertinent.

Natalie silently thought about it for a few moments, then started slowly, "Groudon is a being of the land, but he's also connected to fire as well. Lava is basically hot, liquid ground that becomes land when it cools and solidifies. Also, the sun dries up water and leaves behind the ground below—not just puddles, but lakes and the oceans as well. There's no way he can create torrential downpours, but intensifying the sun's rays and making an area hotter and drier…that's definitely a possibility."

"Is Groudon also capable of setting off a volcano all by himself?" Dev asked. Natalie nodded.

"Without a doubt."

Felix hummed slightly. "So the unusual eruption back in '94…that could have been Groudon?"

"Yep. He probably also would have been responsible, at least in part, for the following strange weather patterns, if he'd been awakened." Natalie seemed to think about this for a moment. "The gap there is weird, though," she admitted. "Some Legendaries are actually basically put to sleep for the safety of humanity and the world—not by humans, usually, but forces of nature, usually other Legendaries. So whenever they're awakened, however it happens, they're pissed. And they'll generally go off on rampages, pick up where they left off when they were shut away."

She paused. "Well. I say that, but there's actually no evidence to support it. It's just something I've been thinking about for a long time. In the Unova Region, Reshiram and Zekrom were sealed away in stones, but nothing says whether it was forced or not. They only reacted to particular people, and even then just in special situations. I wondered how they would have been sealed away in those stones to begin with, though, and since it's unlikely to have been voluntary and humans wouldn't have been able to do that, I figured another, more powerful Legendary might have been responsible for it for whatever reason. Those two in particular reacted to certain people and were tied to them from the beginning of their revival, so they never went out of control. There's no way that's the case for all of them, though."

The others quietly took this in. Aaron was a bit impressed, but it was somewhat difficult to tell how Felix felt about it, even as he warned them against getting too caught up in this theory, seeing as how it was just that: a theory. There weren’t really any facts to back it up. Even Natalie nodded in agreement.

"I know," she admitted. "I haven't found anything to refute it yet, though. The Reshiram and Zekrom example is the only one I have, and it just sort of ignores it. With them, though, it’s weird. They always seemed to find people to connect with around the same time, and one would always awaken shortly after the other to fight with them. It’s like they can’t live with each other, but can’t live without each other.”

“Seems like a weird relationship,” Dev commented.

Aaron looked over at Devin as she said this, frowning slightly. “It _is_ weird. What’s the point, then?”

“They’re Legendaries--creators of the world as we know it. They’re more powerful than we could imagine. As far as I know, they can’t die, not really, but neither can some of them be awake all the time. They’re just too...unruly.” Natalie grinned. “Groudon’s one of the worst. Its counterpart is, too.”

Aaron noted that Natalie seemed equally surprised and delighted when she had three confused expressions turned upon her. “You seriously don’t know about Kyogre? Don’t any of you live here? And not even you, Felix, c’mon man.”

“Hey, Devin lives here!” he protested. “I’m just a tourist!”

“Tourist my ass,” Dev muttered. “I’ve never really been into mythology.”

“I’m from Almia,” Aaron said.

Natalie sighed. “I’m so disappointed in you all. Groudon’s a Legendary that can create continents, right? What’s the opposite of land? Wa-ter.” She drew out the word. “Kyogre’s a Legendary of the sea.”

“Not _the_ Legendary of the sea?” Aaron questioned. Natalie shook her head.

“Not really. At least, I think so. Every region has its own lore surrounding their local Legendaries. Lugia in the Johto Region is known as Lord of the Sea or something.”

“Guardian of the Sea, actually,” Felix said. Everyone looked towards him. “I know stuff!” he said defensively.

“ _Point is_ ,” Natalie continued, “Kyogre might be that missing link, at least where weather is concerned.”

Felix smacked his forehead. “Of course! If Groudon can intensify the sun’s rays, I’ll bet Kyogre can make it rain!”

Natalie nodded. “It wouldn’t surprise me. Almost anytime I come across something specifically regarding Groudon, Kyogre’s also mentioned.”

Felix was scribbling notes in his journal when he stopped suddenly and flipped back a few pages. “Wait a minute. Remember that note we found in that old almanac? Something about a Weather Trio? What if this is it? Groudon, Kyogre, and...”

No one filled the silence. Even Natalie shook her head. “I have no idea,” she admitted. “It’s always just been those two.”

“We’re still further ahead than we were before,” Aaron pointed out. “That’s better than nothing.”

“And we owe it to Natalie,” Dev said with a grin, slinging her arm around the other girl’s shoulders. Aaron glanced at Felix, but found his expression unreadable.

The older male looked down at his notes again. Now, though, the question is: where do we go from here?” He looked towards Natalie. “Any bright ideas, O Wise One?”

“That has a nice ring to it,” she said with a grin. “Really, though? Not…” She trailed off suddenly. “Well...there’s the cave near Dewford Town…”

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group. Devin probably had had enough of caves to last a lifetime, Aaron thought, but this cave in particular she would definitely refuse to enter. To be fair, so would he.

When Aaron first transferred to Hoenn, he’s gotten a crash course on the region’s Pokémon, towns, and particular areas of interest. From Shoal Cave to Meteor Falls, Mt. Pyre to the abandoned ship on Route 108, and, of course, Flash Cave. A good hour had been spent getting it drilled into his head to never, ever enter that cave.

Last summer, a mural said to depict a great battle was found by miners in Flash Cave, a place never previously thought to hold any historical significance. People flocked from all over Hoenn and some other parts of the world to marvel at this new find, but before long, strange things began happening. The torches lighting the little cavern would all flicker and die at the same time without discernible cause. People would trip over nothing, often in the same place. Things quickly escalated from there, with rocks falling on people and minor earthquakes becoming frequent occurrences, but the last straw for the Pokémon League was when a young man went missing during the final tour of the night and reappeared at the entrance of the cave in the morning. He’d been sporting massive claw marks in his chest, and his face had been mauled almost beyond recognition. The League immediately barred the cave’s entrance and put up warning signs instructing people not to enter. Naturally, some ignored the signs, cutting through the bars or finding alternate ways in. Without fail, the next morning, every one of them would end up outside the cave’s main entrance with gouges similar to that of the first victim. The League tried investigating, but no one was willing to risk their lives by entering the cave. A guard was then posted at the entrance, but by that point, everyone was too afraid to attempt breaking in again. Talks regarding collapsing known entrances always ended in historical groups arguing the mural could be damaged in the process. It was still an ongoing debate. Aaron didn’t know if anyone was still guarding the cave, or if they relied on warning signs and locals to keep tourists and daredevils away from Flash Cave. It seemed you couldn’t set food in Hoenn without hearing the stories.

“There must be pictures of it, though,” Dev said slowly. “All those tourists? Even if they banned pictures, people find a way, and the first ones in there would definitely take some.”

“Lilycove!” Aaron burst out, suddenly remembering. “Lilycove Museum of Arts has a life-sized recreation of some mural. A guy I work with was really excited about it, but I don’t remember what he said it was of. I’ll bet that’s it, though.”

“I don’t remember anything like that,” Natalie said dubiously.

“You also don’t live here,” Dev replied.

“What, you heard about this?”

“Well...no,” the redhead admitted, “but I also never had any interest in that sort of thing. I heard about it, but it never concerned me.”

Aaron frowned slightly. “Maybe it’s nothing, then.”

“I’ve gone searching on less nothings before,” Felix said with a shrug. “What else do we have to go on? I say we give it a shot.”

“But Lilycove’s on the other side of the contineeeeent,” Dev mock whined. 

“That’s what we have flying Pokémon for,” Felix said flippantly as he took a Pokéball from his pocket and tossed it into the air, causing a large purple balloon to appear above them.

“Good thing it’s still early,” Aaron heard Dev mutter under her breath as he released Flavia. He couldn’t help but silently agree with a wry smile.

\--*--

The sun had nearly dipped completely below the horizon by the time they had reached Fortree City, and Felix was insisting they stop despite being only another fifteen minutes or so from Lilycove. Well, twenty with Oz. If they were lucky.

But Oz was the reason they were stopping early. He seemed tired from travelling so far with three times his usual load, and as Felix added after they'd landed, he never flew after dark. Something about weird night winds combined with an easily-distracted blimp.

After a brief discussion, the small group agreed, at Aaron’s suggestion, to be put up at the Fortree Ranger Base for the night. They didn’t need much convincing; he barely had to utter the word “free” and they were all on board. They reached the base with little incident and were greeted by an amiable secretary, who immediately put them up in two separate rooms. Despite this, all of them stayed in Devin and Natalie’s room for awhile, simply talking--about their search, about their interests, about themselves. It was nice to be sleeping in beds again, though, so it wasn’t long before they all bade each other goodnight and separated.

Felix was brushing his teeth in the bathroom with the door open when Aaron asked him, “Do you hate Natalie?”

Felix took his time answering, even after he’d rinsed his mouth out, then finally replied. “Honestly, I think I do, but I’m not entirely sure.” Upon seeing the other boy’s expression, he continued, “She’s a pain in the ass when she wants to be and is really good at getting in your way. She’s helpful when it suits her and a nightmare when it doesn’t. She’s left me in pitfalls, traps, the whole nine yards, and taken the opportunity to escape herself.” He paused. “I can...respect that, sort of, to an extent. I’m always impressed by her tenacity and knowledge.”

He fell silent again, this time for longer, and Aaron kept his own silence, knowing Felix would break it himself eventually. At least, he conceded, “I don’t trust her. I don’t trust her not to bail on us, I don’t trust her motives, and I don’t trust her with Devin.”

“Dev can take care of herself,” Aaron pointed out after a moment, “and I think maybe she’s okay because she likes Dev. She wouldn’t put her in danger.”

This did nothing to alleviate Felix’s troubled look, and Aaron could tell he wasn’t convinced, but he let the subject drop. It was a problem for the next morning.

\--*--

Following a breakfast of French toast dusted with icing sugar and doused in maple syrup, all courtesy of Elizabeth, the base’s secretary, the group decided to restock their supplies before heading out again. There was a large department store in Lilycove, but as Felix pointed out, something always happened whenever he planned to stock up at the next city. Between the four of them, they were running rather low on supplies already, so it only made sense to just stock up while they were here. 

Aaron was the first to finish, as he knew the Fortree PokéMart well, and was coming up to the till to pay when he spotted a rack of travel brochures. Curious, he began scanning them when one near the top caught his eye. Some of the large font on the front mentioned Mt. Pyre and it having both cultural and historical value. It was mostly a graveyard save at the very peak, where there was a small set of ruins that people were forbidden to approach. That struck Aaron as slightly odd--why put something in a travel brochure that no tourists were able to even see? When he asked Megan, the cashier, she replied, “Oh, that’s sort of a new rule. You used to be able to see the ruins and orbs, but about ten years ago that suddenly changed, and now the peak is closed off to everyone. I heard it was because someone vandalized the ruins, but there’s a really old couple that protects the relics there, night and day. You’d think they’d have seen something.”

Felix had come to the front by this point and looked intrigued by the cashier’s remarks. “You have a good point,” he mused. “When did you say this all happened again?”

The woman paused for a moment. “I guess it wasn’t quite ten years ago, now that I think about it. Nine, maybe? They still left access to the farthest graves, so us locals weren’t very concerned. Some whining from a few tourists, but everyone forgot about it pretty fast.” She shrugged. “I recall the two orbs being dangerous, anyway, at least according to the inscriptions, so maybe it’s for the best.”

“Inscriptions?”

Megan nodded. “The red and blue orbs sit on the same pedestal, and each has a little inscription on it. Couldn’t tell you what they say anymore, though. They had an info thing on it, since you still weren’t allowed all but I think that was taken down the same time the public lost access.”

This left Felix deep in thought, so Aaron thanked Megan for the information. She rang through their orders, then Devin’s and Natalie’s when they joined them, bidding them a good day as they left the store.

“We’ve gotta check out those ruins,” Felix said excitedly as soon as the doors closed. “Even if it has nothing directly to do with the incident, it may be useful somehow.”

“Let’s be real here, Felix, you just want to break into a place,” Dev said, earning a laugh from everyone save the one in question.

“Hey, you may laugh now, but grave-robbing done right can be very lucrative. For example, I am in possession of a massive, extinct, slightly insane bulldozer. Playing by the rules doesn’t get you anywhere.”

Aaron wasn’t entirely sure he agreed with that, but kept his peace. He didn’t know how much of this venture he was going to fully approve of, but honestly, he’d probably go along with all of it anyway. Just as long as they didn’t do anything severely illegal.

\--*--

They opted to walk to Mt. Pyre, seeing as how it would probably take longer if they rode on Oz and he still needed more of a break after yesterday, but no one was complaining. It gave Nat and Dev plenty of time to talk. Aaron supposed he and Felix could as well, but he was getting slightly weird vibes from his friend and got the feeling he wanted to be left to his thoughts. As a result, half the group was silent for the entirety of the half-hour walk until they reached the small stretch of water between the shore and the tiny spit of land at the entrance of the base of Mt. Pyre. It was taller than he’d expected, Aaron mused as the others briefly quibbled about how to cross the water, seeing as how their only Pokémon capable of surfing with passengers was as likely to half-drown you as he was to get where you wanted to go. Aaron finally reminded the group of the presence of his Flygon, and within five minutes the four of them were entering the mountain.

Aaron swore the air got a little bit chillier as soon as they stepped through the open entrance-way, and he immediately dismissed the idea of letting Skylord out here. It didn’t feel oppressive here, not quite, but the Ranger certainly felt like he didn’t belong, like he wasn’t entirely welcome. The others must have felt similarly, for they were all quiet. Dev murmured for them to follow her, as she knew the way outside, and led them past a number of rows of tombstones before taking a left at a small break. It wasn’t until they stepped outside that Felix asked, “How’d you know how to get out here, Dev?”

The redhead stiffened slightly as she said, “Some of my mother’s ashes were scattered here.”

The archaeologist raised a brow. “But you didn’t know about these ruins of their closure or anything?”

“I don’t come here often, and when I do, it’s not to sight-see,” she replied coolly.

Felix looked ready to ask something else, but Aaron quickly nudged him and shook his head. There was no point in pushing her. She probably didn’t even like to think about this place much.

The small group began to ascend the side of the mountain. Before long, they had gone high enough that they were walking through a dense fog--or low clouds, Aaron wasn’t entirely sure which. It soon became so thick he could barely see more than about fifteen feet ahead of him, and the headstones that had been littered along the edges of the trail were becoming less and less visible. At this rate, they would either run right into the ruins or walk off Mt. Pyre’s edge.

They’d been wading through these clouds for the better part of fifteen minutes when Natalie suddenly said, “Wait.” Aaron and Felix halted behind her.

“We’re going higher, but the cloud cover just started getting thinner,” the brunette continued, looking around. “I can definitely see farther than before.”

She was right; Aaron could see farther than he’d been able to for the past little while. But they were still climbing. Were they approaching the top of the clouds? The air wasn’t that much thinner yet, though, so it seemed unlikely.

For some reason, Aaron thought of Almia then. Almost every Pokémon in the wild there had a specific kind of assist. Some could surf over water, others burned up little piles of leaves or logs. Here, he would go looking for a Pokémon that could clear the air around them.

“Someone’s using Defog,” he said suddenly. “Not here, but kinda close to us.” 

Felix made a noise of irritation. “Of course! Can’t protect against what you can’t see. I’ll bet it’s that couple. That just makes this harder, dammit.” 

He paused then, thinking. “Or easier,” he said slowly. “Now we can see what we're doing and what we’re up against. Let’s keep moving.”

They did so, and now that they were actually paying attention to it, the fog seemed to thin even quicker than before until finally, just ahead of them, they could make out two pinpricks of light--one red and one blue. This was where Felix told them, in a hushed tone, to stop.

“I’ve been thinking about how we’re gonna get these things,” Felix began, “and--”

“Wait, wait, hang on,” Aaron said, abruptly cutting Felix off. “What d’you mean, ‘get these things’? We’re going in to _take a look_ , right?”

Felix looked somewhat uncomfortable at the Ranger’s accusations, essentially confirming them. “They’re never gonna let us anywhere near them, Aaron,” he said. “I can tell you that already.”

“You haven’t even tried!” Aaron wanted to yell, but kept his voice down so they weren’t detected. “If you’re stealing those orbs, I’m not helping.”  
Felix looked rather dismayed at this. Aaron thought maybe Devin looked like she understood, but couldn’t be sure.

“But,” he sighed, before anyone could say anything, “I won’t interfere. I’m with you guys, just...not in this.”

Felix huffed and seemed like he was about to say something, but stopped when Dev nudged him in the ribs. “Fine,” he said grudgingly. “Gimme a sec to come up with a totally different plan, then.”

Devin scowled at that. “Hey, asshat, it’s fine. No big deal. If he’s not comfortable with doing it, we won’t make him. Or try to guilt trip him into it.”

The archaeologist grumbled a bit more but eventually settled back into silence for another few minutes. “Alright, alright, it’s still workable with three. Assuming you two are still in?” he said to Dev and Natalie. The former looked ready to punch him.

“Keep that shit up and I won’t be,” she said irritably. “Just tell us and let’s get this over with.”

\--*--

Aaron watched the operation play out from afar. He said nothing when Felix explained his plan. He said nothing about the quick suggestions made by the women. Whatever happened, happened.

The plan itself went off without a hitch, for the most part. Natalie’s distraction, which came from the far side of the road, came in the form of billowing pillars of smoke and yelling about a fire. At first, only the husband left to go investigate, but was soon shouting for his wife’s help. Aaron had to quell his instinct to assist as well; it wasn’t like Natalie had started a real fire.

Probably.

The next bit was simple and easy: walk up, take the two orbs situated on the pedestal, and make their escape on Oz. By this time, Natalie had already doubled back to rejoin them for their getaway.

It was hard to pinpoint the exact time that everything seemed to go wrong. Aaron thought it was maybe when Natalie returned, which was the same time he’d started moving forward. Thinking back on it later, however, the shift was the second Devin picked up the blue orb, and Felix the red.

Aaron didn’t hear the first words exchanged, but he could see the expressions of anger. He did, however, get close enough to hear what followed.

“You’ve been horrible to her ever since she joined us in Rustboro!” Devin said angrily, cradling her orb in one arm and gesturing to Natalie with the other. 

“That’s because she’s bad fucking news!” Felix shouted back. “Every goddamn time I run into her, bad shit happens! The fucking wall blowing up near Lavaridge, being abandoned in an Ekans pit, walls closing in after a misstep--sorry if it gets a bit tiring after awhile! I wouldn’t be surprised if she was near Meteor Falls when I got attacked! And don’t fucking act like you haven’t been completely different since she’s been here! You’ve barely said a dozen words to us!”

Dev spluttered for a moment before retaliating with, “Fuck off! You’re just jealous because she’s been way more helpful than you for this whole investigation!”

Aaron didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t been expecting anything like this. He could see a red flush creeping up Felix’s neck, and was about to say something, anything, to try and defuse the situation. But the other male beat him to it.

“I’ve always been on my own. I didn’t need your help, her help, or anyone’s help before, and I sure as fuck don’t need it now. Piss off back to whatever backwater town you came from, Devin, and take that bitch with you. I’m fucking done.”

Almost immediately, Dev turned on her heel and whipped a Pokéball out in front of her, a fire-maned horse appearing before her. She mounted it without a word. After a few moments, Natalie also turned away and hoisted herself onto Eridan’s back. Aaron winced at how fiercely Dev kicked the Rapidash, sending him into a gallop almost before Natalie was fully settled. The Ranger turned his gaze back to Felix, and was about to ask, ‘What next?’, but didn’t get the chance. Felix was already striding away to where Oz was waiting, climbing onto his back and floating away without so much as a backward glance.

Aaron didn’t register just how long he’d been standing there until he heard a wordlessly cry, and automatically turned towards the sound. The elderly couple had returned, a Dragonite lumbering behind them, and both looked very visibly distraught.

“Not again,” the woman moaned as she approached the empty pedestal, laying a hand on it. “After everything we’ve done…”

“Hush, my dear, it’s alright,” her husband said gently, laying an arm around her shoulders. He looked towards Aaron now, but instead of looking angry or accusatory, he merely seemed sad. However, after gazing at one another for a moment, the man seemed to brighten slightly. “Ranger. What is your name?”

Aaron gave a start, surprised. He wasn’t even in uniform. “Um, Aaron, sir. But how did you…?”

The man waved his hand. “I can simply tell, but never mind. You know the people that did this?”

Meekly, Aaron nodded and lowered his head. “Yes,” he said softly, “and I did nothing to stop them. I’m sorry.”  
“Don’t be,” the woman said, finally looking towards him. “Everything happens for a reason. Your remaining behind, though it may not seem it, is good.”

“It...it is?”

So the elders began to tell him.


End file.
